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THE  LIBRARY 

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Jean  Howard  McDuffie 


University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


THE   CONNOISSEUR'S   LIBRARY 

GENERAL  EDITOR:  CYRIL  DAVENPORT 


ILLUMINATED 
MANUSCRIPTS 


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HRKVIARY    OK   JOHN    THE   FEARLESS,    DUKK.  OF    BURGUNDY 

KKHNCH;  1404-19 
Krii.  .I/K.V.,  //«;-/.  ^V7 


ILLUMINATED 
MANUSCRIPTS 


BY 


J.  A.   HERBERT 


Connoisseurs 


NEW  YORK:    G.    P.    PUTNAM'S   SONS 

LONDON:    METHUEN    &    CO.    LTD. 
1911 


TO 

SIR   GEORGE   WARNER 

MAGISTRO  DISCIPULUS 


PREFACE 


IN  the  following  pages  an  attempt  is  made  to  sketch 
the  history  of  the  illumination  of  vellum  manu- 
scripts, from  classical  times  down  to  the  decay  and 
virtual  disuse  of  the  art  which  resulted  inevitably,  though 
not  immediately,  from  the  introduction  of  printing ;  de- 
scribing the  main  characteristics  of  each  of  the  most 
important  periods  and  schools,  and  following  the  develop- 
ment of  the  successive  styles  so  far  as  existing  materials 
allow.  These  materials,  for  some  sections  abundant 
almost  to  excess,  are  for  others  scanty,  and  sometimes 
fail  altogether ;  so  that  it  is  no  easy  task  to  make  them 
tell  an  orderly,  consecutive,  and  well-proportioned  story. 
The  question  of  proportion  is  always  a  difficult  one  for 
the  author  of  a  compendium ;  and  I  must  admit  that 
exception  might  be  taken  to  my  allotting  so  much  more 
space  to  a  few  Classical  and  Early  Christian  manuscripts 
than  to  the  vast  bulk  of  French  fifteenth  century  work. 
My  defence  is  that  the  student  of  illumination,  for  whose 
guidance  this  book  is  intended,  is  sure  to  be  already 
familiar  with  examples  of  the  later  work,  and  to  need 
little  more  than  a  few  hints  as  to  what  is  best  in  it ;  so 
that  a  much  greater  degree  of  compression  is  permissible 
and  desirable  here  than  in  discussing  the  earlier  manu- 
scripts, which  are  rare,  little  known,  and  difficult  of 
access,  yet  have  vital  significance  as  marking  stages  in 
the  development  of  the  art.  The  references  in  the  foot- 
notes, and  the  classified  bibliography  and  index  of  manu- 


Vll 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 

scripts  at  the  end,  will,  it  is  hoped,  be  of  service  to  the 
reader  who  wishes  to  carry  his  studies  further. 

My  thanks  are  due  to  the  late  Sir  T.  Brooke,  Mr. 
H.  Yates  Thompson,  and  the  Rev.  E.  S.  Dewick,  for  the 
plate  from  Mr.  Bewick's  edition  of  the  Metz  Pontifical. 
I  have  also  to  thank  Mr.  Thompson  for  giving  me 
repeated  access  to  his  splendid  collection,  and  for  leave 
to  reproduce  a  page  from  his  Hours  of  Jeanne  de 
Navarre.  The  plate  from  Kraus's  edition  of  the  Codex 
Egberti  is  given  by  kind  permission  of  Messrs.  Herder, 
the  publishers ;  those  from  the  Codex  Rossanensis  and 
Codex  Gertrudianus,  by  kind  permission  of  my  friend 
Dr.  A.  Haseloff.  For  the  plate  from  the  Peterborough 
Psalter  I  have  to  thank  the  President  and  Fellows  of  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries  ;  for  those  from  the  "Tres  Riches 
Heures"  and  the  "Quarante  Fouquet,"  M.  Gustave 
Macon,  Conservateur-adjoint  of  the  Muse"e  Conde".  I 
am  further  indebted  to  many  other  possessors  or  custo- 
dians of  manuscripts,  notably  to  M.  Omont  at  Paris,  Mr. 
Madan  at  Oxford,  Mr.  Palmer  at  S.  Kensington,  and 
Pere  van  den  Gheyn  at  Brussels.  Finally,  I  wish  to 
record  my  gratitude  to  three  friends  who  have  laid  me 
under  specially  great  obligations:  Miss  Evelyn  Underhill, 
my  colleague  Mr.  G.  F.  Hill,  and,  above  all,  my  depart- 
mental chief,  Sir  George  Warner,  Keeper  of  MSS.  in 
the  British  Museum.  The  extent  of  my  debt  to  the 
last-named,  indeed,  is  but  faintly  suggested  on  the 
dedication-page  and  in  the  footnotes. 

J.  A.  HERBERT 

i  June,  1911 


V1I1 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


PREFACE,  ...  ...  vii 

LIST  OF  PLATES, xi 

CHAPTER  I.     THE    ILLUMINATION    OF    CLASSICAL 

MANUSCRIPTS,  i 

„       II.     EARLY  CHRISTIAN  ILLUMINATION  TO 

THE  END  OF  THE  SlXTH  CENTURY,          14 

„  III.  BYZANTINE  ILLUMINATION,  .  .  36 
„  IV.  CELTIC  ILLUMINATION,  ...  66 
„  V.  THE  CAROLINGIAN  RENAISSANCE,  .  88 

„  VI.  OUTLINE-DRAWINGS  OF  THE  NINTH, 
TENTH,  AND  ELEVENTH  CEN- 
TURIES, ESPECIALLY  IN  ENGLAND,  IO6 

„    VII.     ENGLISH  ILLUMINATION  TO  A.D.  1200,     122 

,,  VIII.     GERMAN,     FRENCH,     AND     FLEMISH 

ILLUMINATION,  A.D.  900-1200,       .     143 

„  IX.  ITALIAN  ILLUMINATION  BEFORE  1300,  160 
„  X.  ENGLISH  ILLUMINATION  IN  THE 

THIRTEENTH  CENTURY,          .        .174 
„     XI.     FRENCH,     FLEMISH,     AND    GERMAN 
ILLUMINATION  IN  THE  THIRTEENTH 
CENTURY, 192 

„   XII.     ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  APOCALYPSE,     209 


IX 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  XIII.     ENGLISH  ILLUMINATION  IN  THE 

FOURTEENTH  AND  FIFTEENTH 
CENTURIES,     ....     220 

,,          XIV.     FRENCH   ILLUMINATION  IN  THE 

FOURTEENTH  CENTURY,          .     236 

„  XV.     ITALIAN   ILLUMINATION  IN  THE 

FOURTEENTH  CENTURY,          .     255 

„          XVI.     FRENCH    ILLUMINATION    AFTER 

1400,  .  .     265 

,,        XVII.    THE  ITALIAN  RENAISSANCE,      .     286 

„       XVIII.     FLEMISH    ILLUMINATION   AFTER 

1300, 306 

NOTE    ON    THE   VARIOUS    KINDS    OF   LlTURGICAL 

ILLUMINATED  MANUSCRIPTS,  ....     324 

SELECT  BIBLIOGRAPHY, 331 

INDEX  I — MANUSCRIPTS, 341 

„    II — SCRIBES  AND  ILLUMINATORS,          .        .  346 

III — GENERAL, 347 


LIST    OF    PLATES 

I.     Breviary    of   John    the    Fearless,   Duke    of    Burgundy. 

French,  1404-19.     Brit.  Mus.,  Harl.  2897      .          Frontispiece 

TO  FACE   PAGE 

II.     Virgil.    IVth  cent.  (?).    Rome,  Vatican,  Cod.  3225.    [From 

Codices  e  Vaticanis  selecti,  vol.  i,  1899]    ....  6 

III.  Gospels    (Codex    Rossanensis).      Vlth    cent     Rossano 

Cathedral.     [From    Haseloff,    Codex  purpureus  Rossa- 
nensis, 1898] 25 

IV.  Gospels.     Byzantine,  Xlth  cent.     Brit.  Mus.,  Burney  19         37 

V.     Simeon  Metaphrastes.    Xl-XIIth  cent.    Brit.  Mus.,  Add. 

11870 52 

VI.     Psalter  of  Melissenda,  Queen  of  Jerusalem.     Byzantine, 

1131-44.     Brit.  Mus.,  Egerton  1139  60 

VII.  Gospels  (Book  of  Kells).  Irish,  VII I-IXth  cent.  Dublin, 
Trin.  Coll.  [From  Abbott,  Celtic  Ornaments  from  the 
Book  of  Kells,  1895] 66 

VIII.     Lindisfarne  Gospels  (Durham  Book).     Circa  700.     Brit. 

Mus.,  Nero  D.'w 74 

IX.     Gospels    ("  Codex    Aureus ").      Carolingian,    circa    800. 

Brit.  Mus.,  Harl.  2788 90 

X.     Gospel-book   of    S.    Medard's   Abbey,   Soissons.     Early 

IXth  cent.     Paris,  Bibl.  Nat.,  lat.  8850  ...         94 

XI.     Alcuin  Bible.     Carolingian,  IXth  cent.     Brit.  Mus.,  Add. 

10546 96 

XII.     Utrecht  Psalter.    IXth  cent.     Utrecht  University.     [From 

Pal.  Soc.  Autotype  Facsimile,  1874]         •         •         •         •       IJO 

XIII.  Liber   Vitae   of  Newminster,  Winchester.     Early  Xlth 

cent.     Brit.  Mus.,  Stowe  944 1 1 8 

XIV.  Psalter.     English,  Xlth  cent.     Brit.  Mus.,  Tib.  C.  vi         .120 

XV.     Grimbald  Gospels.     Winchester,  Xlth  cent.     Brit.  Mus., 

Add.  34890 132 

XVI.     Bible.     English,  XI  Ith  cent.     Winchester  Chapter  Library       138 

XVII.     Life   of  St.   Guthlac.     English,  late   XI Ith  cent.     Brit. 

Mus.,  Harley  Roll  Y.  6 140 

xi 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 

XVIII. 


XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 
XXII. 

XXIII. 
XXIV. 

XXV. 
XXVI. 

XXVIL 
XXVIII. 

XXIX. 
XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII. 
XXXIII. 

XXXIV. 
XXXV. 

XXXVI. 

XXXVII. 

XXXVIII. 

xii 


TO  FACE  PACK 

Codex    Egberti.       977-93.       Trier,    Stadtbibliothek. 

[From  Kraus,  Die  Miniaturen  des  Cod.  Egberti,  1884]       148 

Psalter  of  Egbert,  Archbishop  of  Trier,  977-93. 
Cividale,  Codex  Gertrudianus.  [From  Haseloff,  Der 
Psalter  Erzbischof  Egberts,  1901]  .  .  .  .  152 

Exultet  Roll.     Italian,  XI Ith  cent.     Brit.  Mus.,  Add. 

30337       •  166 

Psalter.     English,   early   XI I  Ith    cent.     Brit.  Mus., 

Roy.  i  D.  x 176 

Psalter  of  Robert  de  Lindesey,  Abbot  of  Peter- 
borough, 1220-2.  Society  of  Antiquaries,  MS.  59 

Bible.    English,  XI I  Ith  cent.    Brit.  Mus.,  Roy.  I  D.  i 

Psalter  of  Prince  Alphonso  (Tenison  Psalter).  English, 
1284.  Brit.  Mus.,  Add.  24686  .... 

Psalter.   French,  XI I  Ith  cent.   Brit.  Mus.,  Add.  17868 

Gospel-Lectionary.  Paris,  late  XI I  Ith  cent.  Brit. 
Mus.,  Add.  17341 

Surgical  treatise  by  Roger  of  Parma.  French,  XI I  Ith 
cent.  Brit.  Mus.,  Sloane  1977  .... 


Somme  le  Roi.  French,  circa  1300.  Brit.  Mus., 
Add.  28162 

Psalter.    Flemish,  XI I  Ith  cent.   Brit.  Mus.  Roy.,  28.  iii 

Apocalypse.  English,  late  XI I  Ith  cent.  Oxford, 
Bodl.  Douce  180 

Psalter.  English,  early  XlVth  cent.  Brit.  Mus., 
Roy.  2  B.  vii  . 

(Same) 

Psalter.  East  Anglian,  early  XlVth  cent.  Brit. 
Mus.,  Arundel  %$ 

Cuttings  from  a  Missal.  English,  late  XlVth  cent. 
Brit.  Mus.,  Add.  29704 

Metz  Pontifical.  1302-16.  Library  of  H.Y.Thompson, 
Esq.  (formerly  of  Sir  T.  Brooke,  Bart.).  [From 
Dewick,  Metz  Pontifical,  1902]  .... 

Horae  of  Jeanne  de  Navarre.     French,  circa  1336-48. 

Library  of  H.    Y.   Thompson,  Esq.     [From  H.  Y. 

Thompson,  Hours  of  Joan  II,  Queen  of  Navarre, 

1899]        -  - 

S.  Augustine,  De  Civitate  Dei.     French,  late  XlVth 

cent.     Brit.  Mus.,  Add.  15245  .... 

Horae.     Flemish,  circa  1300.     Brit.  Mus.,  Stowe  17  . 


1 80 
184 

190 
196 

198 
200 

202 
204 

216 

220 

222 
226 
232 

238 


244 

246 
254 


LIST  OF   PLATES 

TO    FACE    PAGS 

XXXIX.     Niccolo   di  Ser  Sozzo,   1334-6.     Siena,  Archivio  di 

Stato,  Caleffo  dell'  Assunta 258 

XL.  "  Tres  Riches  Heures"  of  Jean,  Due  de  Berry,  d.  1416. 
By  Paul  de  Limbourg  and  his  brothers.  Chantilly, 
Musee  Conde  ........  272 

XLI.     Bedford   Hours.     French,  circa  1423.     Brit.  Mus.,  Add. 

18850  ....  274 

XLI  I.  Horae  of  E.  Chevalier,  by  Jean  Fouquet,  mid.  XVth 
cent.  Chantilly,  Musee  Conde.  [From  Gruyer,  Les 
Quar ante  Fouquet,  1897] 280 

XLIII.     Horae,  School  of  J.  Fouquet.    French,  arm  1470.    Brit. 

Mus.,  Egerton  2045 282 

XLIV.     Leaf  from  Choir-book.    Sienese,  early  XVth  cent.    Brit. 

Mus.,  Add.  35254  C 288 

XLV.     Scotus,  Quaestiones  in  Sententias.      Italian,  1458-94. 

Brit.  Mus.,  Add.  15273 290 

XLVI.     Liberale  da  Verona.    Circa  1475.    Siena,  Libreria  Piccolo- 
mini.     Gradual 298 

XLVII.     Sforza  Book  of  Hours.     Milanese,  circa    1490.     Brit. 

Mus.,  Add.  34294.    [From  Warner,  Sforza  Book,  1894]       300 

XLVIII.    (Same) 302 

XLIX.     Mandeville's  Travels.    Flemish,  early  XVth  cent.    Brit. 

Mus.,  Add.  24189 308 

L.     Prayer-book.     Flemish,  circa    1492.     Brit.  Mus.,  Add. 

25698  ...  .316 

LI.     Horae  ("Golf  Book").    Flemish,  early  XVIth  cent.    Brit. 

Mus.,  Add.  24098 322 


Xlll 


CORRIGENDA 

Plate  VII.     For  Vllth  cent,  read  VHI-IXth  cent. 
Plate  XXXV.     For  Sir  T.  Brooke,  Bart.,  read  H.  Y.  Thompson,  Esq. 
Plate  L.     For  Book  of  Hours  read  Prayer-book. 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 

CHAPTER   I 
THE   ILLUMINATION   OF  CLASSICAL  MANUSCRIPTS 

THE  opening  chapter  of  a  complete  history  of 
illuminated  manuscripts,  in  the  widest  sense  of 
the  term,  ought  no  doubt  to  be  devoted  to 
Egyptian  papyri.  Many  of  these  were  richly  adorned 
with  coloured  illustrations  ;  and  specimens  of  this  art  A 
survive  dating  back  to  the  fifteenth  century  B.C.,  such  as  X 
the  famous  Book  of  the  Dead  made  for  Ani,  now  in  the 
British  Museum.  But  the  present  work  is  less  ambitious  : 
only  illuminations  on  vellum  come  within  its  scope,  and 
only  such  of  these,  for  the  most  part,  as  are  of  European 
origin.  In  one  respect,  however,  we  must  extend  the 
definition  of  illuminated  manuscripts.  Strictly  speak- 
ing, the  term  is  only  applicable  to  manuscripts  which 
are  illustrated  or  ornamented  in  colours ;  some  writers 
would  even  restrict  it  to  those  in  which  the  precious 
metals  too  are  used — which  are  "lit  up"  by  gold  or  silver 
foil.  But  paintings  and  outline-drawings  are  so  inti- 
mately connected  (at  all  events,  as  applied  to  the 
embellishment  of  vellum  manuscripts)  that  the  latter 
can  hardly  be  excluded  from  an  attempt  to  describe  the 
development  of  the  illuminator's  art. 

Tradition  assigns  the  invention  of  vellum  to  Eu- 
menes  II,  king  of  Pergamum,  B.C.  197-158,  though  the 
skins  of  animals,  more  or  less  specially  prepared  as 
writing  material,  had  undoubtedly  been  used  in  Egypt 
long  before  his  time.  But  the  earliest  definite  reference 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

to  an  illuminated  manuscript  on  vellum  occurs  in 
Martial's  Epigrams,  written  towards  the  end  of  the  first 
century  of  the  Christian  era.  Among  other  inscriptions 
for  gifts  of  various  kinds  is  one  for  a  Virgil  on  vellum, 
having  a  portrait  of  the  poet  for  a  frontispiece  (xiv.  186) : — 

Vergilius  in  membranis 

Quam  brevis  inmensum  cepit  membrana  Maronem ! 
Ipsius  et  vultus  prima  tabella  gerit. 

This  gift-book  has  not  survived  to  our  days.  It  is 
interesting,  however,  to  find  that  one  of  the  few  extant 
remains  of  classical  book-illustration  is  a  Virgil1  con- 
taining the  poet's  portrait ;  not  indeed  on  the  first  page, 
but  on  more  than  one  of  those  which  follow. 

The  distich  just  quoted  proves  that  the  art  of 
miniature  was  practised  in  Martial's  time.  No  speci- 
mens survive,  however,  which  can  be  assigned  to  an 
earlier  date  than  the  fourth  century ;  in  fact,  only  three 
illuminated  manuscripts  of  the  classical  period  are  now 
known  to  exist — the  two  Virgils  in  the  Vatican  and  the 
Iliad  at  Milan.  These  are  precious  both  for  their  rarity, 
and  also  as  an  indication  of  the  style  of  much  work 
which  has  now  vanished  ;  for  the  Iliad  and  the  smaller 
Virgil  show  by  the  fully  developed  manner  of  their  paint- 
ings that  they  are  less  the  casual  beginnings,  than  the 
last  products,  of  an  art.  It  seems  unlikely,  however, 
that  this  art  had  ever  attained  great  proportions  or 
enjoyed  general  popularity.  No  doubt  there  were  many 
classical  illuminated  manuscripts  (as  there  were  many 
manuscripts  of  all  kinds)  which  have  perished,  both 
separately  and  in  the  wholesale  destruction  of  great 
libraries  such  as  those  of  Alexandria,  Constantinople, 
and  Rome.  But  we  may  fairly  assume  that  no  greater 
proportion  of  these  were  destroyed  than  of  other  kinds 
Indeed,  books  with  paintings,  being  always  more  costl 
than  plainly  written  copies,  would  be  guarded  more 

1  Cod.  Vat.  lat.  3867. 


CLASSICAL    MANUSCRIPTS 

carefully,  and  we  might  therefore  expect  more  of  them 
to  survive,  relatively  to  the  total  number  executed.  The 
Ambrosian  Iliad,  for  instance,  was  preserved  purely  for 
the  sake  of  its  pictures,  all  the  plain  leaves  having  long 
ago  disappeared.  But  we  find  that  whilst  numerous 
codices  of  classical  texts  exist,  in  a  more  or  less  complete 
state,  written  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  if  not 
earlier,  only  the  three  above  mentioned  show  any  trace 
of  illumination. 

It  may  seem  strange  that  the  masterpieces  of  Greek 
and  Roman  literature,  with  their  wealth  of  material, 
and  with  the  numerous  models  afforded  by  paintings  and 
sculptures  of  the  best  periods  of  Greek  art,  should  not 
have  produced  a  large  and  influential  school  of  book- 
illustration.  But  illumination  is  an  art  which  appeals 
chiefly  to  the  class  of  mind  that  enjoys  detailed  beauty, 
small  refinements,  exquisite  finish.  The  genius  of  Roman 
art  was  quite  other  than  this.  It  was  an  art  of  display, 
which  expressed  itself  chiefly  in  statuary,  architecture, 
mural  paintings ;  the  ornamentation  of  great  surfaces  of 
the  house  and  street.  It  raised  triumphal  arches  and 
splendid  tombs,  but  did  not  trouble  itself  much  about 
the  enrichment  of  books  for  private  pleasure.  The 
illuminated  Homer  or  Virgil  was  always  the  fancy  of 
an  individual,  never  the  necessity  of  the  library. 

One  sort  of  book,  however — the  Calendar — seems  to 
have  been  illustrated  with  paintings  from  a  very  early 
period,  if  we  may  accept  the  available  evidence,  which 
is  rather  of  a  second-hand  kind,  coming  mainly,  in  fact, 
from  a  seventeenth  century  copy  of  a  ninth  century 
manuscript,  which  is  supposed  in  its  turn  to  have  been 
copied  from  a  fourth  century  original,  now  lost.  This 
copy,  now  in  the  Barberini  Library  at  Rome,1  was  made 
for  that  accurate  and  unprejudiced  antiquary  Peiresc, 
who  showed  a  patience  and  common  sense,  in  his  deal- 

1  Published  by  J.  Strzygowski,  Die  Calenderbilder  des  Chronograph* n  vom 
Jahre  354,  Berlin,  1888  (Jahrbuch  des  k.  deutschen  archaol.  Instituts,  Erganz- 
ungsheft  i.). 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

ings  with  antiquity,  far  beyond  the  average  of  his  own, 
or  even  of  a  later,  day.  It  bears  many  evidences  of 
authenticity,  as  well  as  some  indication  of  the  copyist's 
desire  to  "  improve  upon  "  his  original.  In  a  word,  we 
have  fairly  good  reason  for  believing  the  fourth  century 
original  to  have  been  illustrated,  and  that  in  much  the 
same  way  as  the  later  copies,  so  far  as  the  subjects  are 
concerned ;  but  it  would  be  rash  to  draw  any  inference 
from  the  existing  pictures  as  to  the  style  of  execution,  or 
even  the  details  of  composition,  of  the  lost  archetype.1 

The  work  in  question  is  generally  known  as  the 
Calendar  of  the  Sons  of  Constantine,  and  its  date  is 
fixed,  by  the  "  Natales  Caesarum "  and  other  chrono- 
logical notes,  at  the  year  354  A.D.  It  purports  to  have 
been  executed,  probably  at  Rome,  by  Furius  Dionysius 
Filocalus  for  a  patron  named  Valentine.  The  drawings 
with  which  it  is  illustrated  represent  the  cities  of  Rome, 
Alexandria,  Constantinople,  and  Trier,  personified  in  true 
classic  fashion  as  female  figures — Trier  as  an  Amazon 
leading  a  captive  barbarian ;  the  planets,  the  sun  and 
moon,  the  months,  the  signs  of  the  zodiac.  There  are 
also  portraits  of  Constantius  II  and  Constantius  Gallus 
Caesar.  The  figures  of  the  months  are  specially  interest- 
ing as  the  forerunners  of  the  delightful  Calendar-pictures 
prefixed  to  the  Psalters  and  Books  of  Hours  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  They  are  generally  nude  or  half-draped 
youths,  and  symbolize,  more  or  less  directly,  the  occupa- 
tions proper  to  the  various  seasons.  Thus  March  is  a 
shepherd-boy,  pointing  upwards  to  a  swallow ;  October, 
with  a  basket  of  fruit,  is  taking  a  hare  from  a  trap.  These 

1  The  danger  is  well  exemplified  by  a  thirteenth  century  copy  (Paris,  Bibl. 
Nat.,  nouv.  acq.  lat.  1359)  of  an  eleventh  century  chronicle  of  the  abbey  of 
S.  Martin  des  Champs  (Brit.  Mus.,  Add.  11662).  The  miniatures  in  the  copy 
correspond  exactly  with  the  drawings  in  the  original  as  to  subject  and  position  in 
the  text ;  but  there  the  resemblance  ceases.  The  later  illustrator,  with  the  sound 
artistic  instinct  which  characterized  his  time,  made  no  pretence  of  imitating  the 
crude  designs  of  his  predecessor.  See  M.  Prou  in  the  Revue  de  I'arf  chrttien, 
1890,  pp.  122-8.  On  the  other  hand,  some  of  the  drawings  in  Harl.  603 
(eleventh  century),  are  almost  exact  reproductions  of  those  in  the  ninth  century 
Utrecht  Psalter. 


CLASSICAL    MANUSCRIPTS 

month-pictures  exist,  not  only  in  the  copies  made  for 
Peiresc,  but  also  in  a  fifteenth  century  MS.  at  Vienna, 
from  which  Strzygowski  has  published  five  (Jan- 
uary, April  to  July)  to  make  good  the  deficiencies  of 
the  Barberini  MS.  The  Vienna  pictures  are  rectangular, 
without  any  ornamental  framing ;  but  those  in  Peiresc's 
copy  are  placed  in  decorated  frames,  with  a  pediment  sur- 
mounted by  a  lunette  addition,  decorated  with  debased 
classical  patterns,  such  as  the  Greek  scroll,  cable,  egg-and- 
dog-tooth,  very  carelessly  executed.  Unless  these  are 
the  tasteful  addition  of  the  ninth  century  copyist — a  not 
improbable  hypothesis — we  have  here  the  only  evidence 
that  classical  illuminators  ornamented,  as  well  as  illus- 
trated, their  books.  The  miniatures  in  the  classical  texts 
which  we  shall  next  consider  are  pictorial  only ;  it  is 
not  until  the  sixth  century  that  we  meet  with  other  in- 
stances of  the  use  of  decorative  borders  and  conventional 
ornament. 

Of  the  three  classical  manuscripts  to  which  we  have 
already  referred,  by  far  the  best  is  the  smaller  of  the  two 
Virgils  in  the  Vatican.1  Its  pictures  are  not  all  of  equal 
merit,  but  the  best  are  painted  in  so  mature  a  manner, 
with  so  dexterous  a  technique,  as  to  make  one  feel  very 
sure  that  we  have  in  them  the  only  surviving  work  of 
a  large  and  developed  school  of  illumination.  It  has 
been  very  carefully  studied  by  M.  Pierre  de  Nolhac,2  and 
published  in  photographic  facsimile  by  the  authorities  of 
the  Vatican  Library.3  In  its  present  fragmentary  state 
it  consists  of  seventy-five  leaves,  containing  parts  of  the 
Georgics  and  of  the  Aeneid  ;  about  one-fifth  or  one-sixth, 
perhaps,  of  the  original  manuscript.  Nothing  is  known 
of  its  history  until  the  fifteenth  century,  when  it  was  at 
Naples,  in  the  possession  of  Gioviano  Pontano.  In  trac- 

1  Cod.  Vat.    lat.    3225,  sometimes  called  "Schedae  Vaticanae,"  but  more 
generally  known  as  "the  Vatican  Virgil";   the  larger  and  artistically    inferior 
Virgil,  Cod.  Vat.  lat.  3867,  being  styled  "  Codex  Romanus." 

2  In  Notices  et  Extraits,  xxxv.,  pt.  ii.,  1897,  pp.  683-791. 

3  frogmen  fa  et  Picturae  Vergiiiana  Codicis  Vaticani  3225,  Rome,  1899  (vol.  i. 
of  Codices  e  Vaticanis  sekcti phototypice  expressi}. 


ing  its  subsequent  adventures,  M.  de  Nolhac  has  shown 
that  it  must  have  been  seen  by  Raphael,  who  was  in- 
spired by  more  than  one  of  its  designs.  The  text  is 
written  throughout  by  one  hand,  in  rustic  capitals,  a  kind 
of  script  notoriously  difficult  to  date  with  any  confidence. 
The  best  judges  concur,  however,  in  assigning  it  on 
palaeographical  grounds  to  the  fourth  century  ;  and  the 
fine  execution  of  the  earlier  miniatures,  the  really  classical 
pose  and  style  of  the  figures,  point  to  this  rather  than  to 
a  later  date,  when  the  artistic  decadence  consequent  on 
the  barbarian  invasions  was  far  advanced. 

The  book  has  now  fifty  miniatures,  six  occupying  the 
full  page,  the  remainder  from  half  to  two-thirds  of  a  page. 
Each  is  enclosed  in  a  rectangular  frame  of  red,  black,  and 
white  bands,  the  red  decorated  with  gilt  lozenges.  There 
are  nine  illustrations  of  the  Georgics,  and  forty-one  of  the 
Aeneid.  In  these  paintings  M.  de  Nolhac  finds  the  work 
of  three  separate  artists,  of  the  same  school  and  period, 
but  of  very  different  degrees  of  merit.  To  the  best  of  the 
three  (A)  he  assigns  the  Georgics  series,  pictures  1-9 ;  to 
the  worst  (B),  pictures  10-25 ;  the  remainder  he  gives  to  a 
third  artist  (C),  inferior  to  A,  but  better  than  B.  Sig. 
Venturi1  agrees  in  attributing  the  first  nine  pictures  to  A, 
but  would  also  credit  him  with  thirteen  of  the  C  series 
(26-32,  40-4,  46) ;  and  he  is  disposed  to  assign  seven  of 
the  B  series  (11,  15,  16,  18,  20,  22,  24)  and  three  of  the 
C  series  (35,  38,  45)  to  a  fourth  artist.  It  would  be 
presumptuous  to  attempt  to  judge  between  these  two 
distinguished  critics.  Provisionally,  however,  M.  de 
Nolhac's  hypothesis  may  be  accepted  as  at  least  highly 
probable. 

The  illustrator  of  the  Georgics2  was  evidently  a  painter 
of  great  skill  and  taste.  His  pastoral  pictures  show 
something  of  that  sense  of  the  idyllic  in  country  life 
which  is  peculiar  to  the  cultured  dweller  in  cities.  His 
figures,  too,  are  well  posed,  graceful,  in  good  proportion ; 
the  animals  natural  and  full  of  movement.  The  freedom 

1  Storia  del?  Arte  Italiana,  i.,  1901,  pp.  312-26.  2  See  plate  ii. 

6 


PLATE  II 


VIRGIL.   IViH   CENT  O) 

ROMK,    VATICAN,   COP.    3225 


CLASSICAL    MANUSCRIPTS 

and  sense  of  space  in  these  little  pictures  are  truly  artistic. 
They  are  painted  with  the  direct  touch  of  a  person  accus- 
tomed to  work  in  a  ductile  medium.  The  colours  are 
thick ;  many  of  the  miniatures  have  suffered  through 
this,  the  thickest  layers  having  flaked  off.  There  is  no 
trace  of  preliminary  outline-drawing.  The  soft  handling 
of  the  draperies  is  very  different  from  the  crisp,  hard 
manner  of  the  Byzantine  painters.  The  artist,  too,  is 
something  of  a  naturalist.  Not  content  with  telling  a 
story,  he  also  composes  a  credible  scene.  His  back- 
grounds have  recess,  his  trees  are  not  mere  symbols ;  he 
even  has  some  idea  of  perspective,  both  aerial  and  linear. 
As  for  his  personages,  slight  and  graceful  in  type,  they 
seem  to  stand  midway  between  the  wall-paintings  of 
Pompeii  and  those  late-classical  mosaics  of  Ravenna 
(Tomb  of  Galla  Placidia  and  Baptistery  of  the  Orthodox), 
which  show  a  suppleness  and  sense  of  movement  not 
yet  crushed  by  the  formalism  and  part-spiritual,  part- 
decorative  aims  of  Byzantine  art. 

Many  of  these  excellences,  however,  belong  to  the 
individual  artist,  not  to  his  school.  The  first  sixteen  of 
the  Aeneid  illustrations,  be  they  by  one  hand  or  two, 
show  a  sad  falling-off.  Good  modelling  and  composition 
vanish,  so  does  delicacy  in  sense  of  colour.  The  artist 
(assuming  him  to  be  but  one — in  any  case,  the  main 
characteristics  are  the  same  throughout)  illustrates  his 
subject,  often  with  a  certain  vigour,  but  does  not  make  a 
picture  out  of  it.  Often  he  loses  all  sense  of  proportion, 
tiny  buildings  being  combined  with  figures  twice  their 
height.  There  is  no  hint  of  perspective  ;  the  painting  in 
general  is  coarse  and  careless,  and  the  attempts  at  facial 
expression  merely  grotesque.  Perhaps  the  seven  minia- 
tures assigned  by  Sig.  Venturi  to  a  different  hand  are  a 
trifle  worse  than  some  of  the  others ;  but  all  are  bad, 
especially  when  compared  with  the  charming  pictures 
which  precede  them. 

A  marked  improvement  begins  with  Picture  26,  and 
is  sustained,  more  or  less  completely,  to  the  end  of  the 

7 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

volume.  The  modelling  and  colouring  become  decidedly 
better ;  and  in  some  of  the  pictures,  such  as  the  Death 
of  Dido  (27),  there  is  a  distinct  effort  to  represent  emotion. 
Individual  figures  and  buildings  are  well  done,  but  the 
artist  lacks  the  power  of  successful  combination.  The 
miniature  of  Latinus  receiving  the  Trojan  envoys  (41), 
however,  is  a  really  charming  picture.  The  late-classical 
temple  in  the  forest  is  painted  with  great  delicacy,  while 
the  contrast  between  the  cold,  severe  architecture  and  the 
deeps  of  the  woods  has  not  only  been  felt,  but  is  communi- 
cated to  the  spectator. 

The  colour  throughout  the  manuscript  is  deep,  rich, 
and  harmonious ;  and  the  first  and  third  hands  show 
considerable  understanding  of  gradation,  e.g.  in  the 
Boat-race  scene  (28),  where  the  sea  gradually  changes 
from  a  dark  tint  in  the  foreground  to  pale  green  in  the 
distance.  The  high  lights  of  draperies  and  accessories 
are  touched  with  gold.  The  flesh-tints  are  always  brick- 
red,  and  recall  (says  M.  de  Nolhac)  those  of  the  Pompeian 
wall-paintings.  Foliage  is  a  dark  green,  in  parts  nearly 
black ;  but  the  second  artist,  in  his  careless  hurry,  some- 
times uses  blue.  Otherwise,  all  three  painters  seem  to 
have  practically  used  the  same  paint-box,  only  distributing 
their  tints  with  varying  degrees  of  skill. 

After  the  Vatican  Virgil  it  seems  natural  to  mention 
the  fragments  of  the  Iliad,  now  in  the  Ambrosian  Library 
at  Milan;1  for  the  two  manuscripts  have  much  in  common. 
The  Iliad  fragments  consist  of  fifty-two  separate  leaves 
of  vellum,  containing  fifty-eight  miniatures,  all  the  full 
width  of  the  page,  but  of  various  heights.  These  are 
mostly  on  only  one  side  of  the  leaf,  the  other  side  having 
portions  of  the  text,  in  uncial  writing  of  the  fifth 
century ;  and  it  is  evident  that  the  book  in  its  original 
state  was  a  complete  Iliad,  profusely  illustrated,  com- 

1  Homeri  Iliadis  pictae  fragmenta  Ambrosiana  phototypice  edita,  with  preface 
by  A.  M.  Ceriani,  Milan,  1905.  See  too  Pal.  Soc.,  i.  39,  40,  50,  51.  The 
engravings  published  by  Mai  in  1819  and  1835  are  not  exact  enough  to  be  satis- 
factory for  study,  but  his  descriptions  (which  Ceriani  reprints)  are  invaluable. 

8 


CLASSICAL    MANUSCRIPTS 

prising  (according  to  Ceriani's  estimate)  386  leaves  with 
about  240  miniatures.  What  survives  has  evidently 
been  preserved  solely  for  its  artistic  interest :  not  only 
have  the  leaves  been  cut  down  as  far  as  possible  with- 
out encroaching  on  the  pictures,  but  the  text  on  the 
verso  pages  was  covered,  until  Mai's  time,  with  a  paper 
backing,  which  was  apparently  put  there  as  early  as  the 
thirteenth  century. 

Most  of  the  miniatures  are  so  stained  and  worn  that 
it  is  difficult  to  judge  of  their  original  appearance.  A 
largeness  and  freedom  of  manner,  however,  are  evident, 
suggestive  rather  of  mural  painting  than  of  illumination. 
Fine  juxtaposition  of  mass  is  aimed  at,  rather  than 
subtlety  of  line.  It  seems  not  improbable  that  the 
designs  may  have  been  copied  from  frescoes  or  other 
large  paintings  of  the  Augustan  age,  since  lost.  The 
style  of  the  best  is  certainly  Graeco-Roman,  but  the 
work  is  most  unequal,  some  of  the  compositions  being 
full  of  dignity,  whilst  others,  weak,  scattered,  and  lack- 
ing in  proportion,  seem  to  proceed  from  a  different  and 
very  inferior  school.  Here,  perhaps,  antique  models 
failed  the  artist.  Many  childish  devices  appear,  such  as 
making  the  slain  in  battle-pieces  only  half  the  size  of 
the  living,  and  the  ridiculous — perhaps  only  symbolic — 
representation  of  Troy  as  a  tiny  walled  space  containing 
half  a  dozen  soldiers.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are 
many  charming  single  figures,  especially  Thetis,  the 
winged  Night,  Apollo  with  his  garland,  sprig,  and  lyre, 
and  the  river-god  Scamander ;  some  of  the  battle-scenes, 
too,  are  full  of  life  and  vigour.  There  does  not  seem 
to  be,  even  in  the  best  pictures,  anything  like  the  fine 
artistic  feeling  and  finished  execution  of  the  best  minia- 
tures in  the  Vatican  Virgil ;  but  the  average  merit  of 
the  book  is  perhaps  higher.  The  pictures  are  enclosed 
in  plain  banded  frames  of  red  and  blue.  The  favourite 
tints  are  white,  blue,  green,  and  purple,  with  a  pre- 
ponderance of  red  ;  no  gold  is  used,  its  place  being  taken 
by  a  bright  yellow.  Some  of  the  outlines  are  in  pale 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

ink ;  two  of  the  pictures  have  landscape  backgrounds, 
in  the  rest  the  backgrounds  are  plain.  The  coloured 
nimbi  worn  by  the  gods — Zeus  purple,  Aphrodite  green, 
the  others  blue — are  not  without  interest  for  the  student 
of  Christian  iconography. 

From  these  two  books,  which  retain  in  an  enfeebled 
form  something  of  the  grand  and  gracious  manner  of 
Graeco-Roman  art,  how  great  is  the  drop  to  our  third  and 
last  classical  manuscript !  This  is  the  larger  illustrated 
Virgil1  of  the  Vatican  Library,  numbered  Cod.  Vat. 
lat.  3867  and  called  the  "  Codex  Romanus."  Thanks 
to  similarity  of  subject,  age,  and  place,  it  has  been  per- 
sistently confused,  even  by  those  who  should  know 
better,  with  the  probably  older  and  certainly  infinitely 
superior  Cod.  Vat.  lat.  3225  described  above — the 
Vatican  Virgil  par  excellence.  The  Codex  Romanus  is 
a  large,  coarsely  executed  manuscript,  whose  exceeding 
ugliness  has  even  caused  some  critics  to  suggest  that  it 
was  decorated  as  a  sort  of  artistic  joke  for  the  amuse- 
ment of  a  Roman  schoolboy !  As  the  text,  however,  is 
as  debased  as  the  illustration,  it  would  seem  that  its 
imperfections  are  the  result  of  ignorance,  not  of  a 
strained  sense  of  humour.  Expert  opinion  is  divided 
as  to  its  age:  the  form  of  writing — rustic  capitals 
of  an  early  type — has  led  the  editors  of  the  Palaeo- 

fraphical  Society3  to  assign  it  provisionally  to  the 
rst  half  of  the  fourth  century,  or  possibly  the  closing 
years  of  the  third ;  while  other  critics,  judging  by  the 
corruptness  of  the  text  and  the  crudeness  of  the  paint- 
ings, would  relegate  it  to  the  sixth  century  or  even  later. 
The  Vatican  editors  review  the  rival  opinions  carefully 
in  their  learned  preface  ;  their  own  judgment  is  that  the 
manuscript  is  not  later  than  the  sixth  century,  nor  earlier 
than  the  end  of  the  fourth.  The  book  certainly  seems 
to  belong  to  a  period  when  the  classical  style  had  become 

1  Picturae  .  .  .  Cod.  Vat.  3867,  Rome,  1902  (vol.  ii.  of  Codices  e   Vaticanis 
sclecti  phototypict  expressi). 

2  Series  i.,  pi.  113-14,  and  introd.  p.  vii. 

10 


CLASSICAL    MANUSCRIPTS 

a  dead  tradition,  not  a  living  force.  This  is  strikingly 
apparent  when  one  compares  the  feeble  portraits  of 
Virgil,  which  occur  on  three  of  the  earlier  pages,  with 
their  indubitable  though  distant  prototype,  the  superb 
mosaic-portrait  of  Virgil  sitting  between  Clio  and 
Melpomene,  recently  found  at  Susa  and  published  by 
the  Fondation  Eugene  Piot.1  But  the  shortcomings  of 
the  manuscript  may  perhaps  be  indications,  not  of  late 
date,  but  of  provincial  origin.  Inscriptions  at  the  begin- 
ning and  end  show  that  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth 
centuries  it  belonged  to  the  abbey  of  S.  Denis  near 
Paris ;  and  its  editors  suggest  that  it  may  possibly  have 
been  there  from  the  eighth  century  onwards.  In  that 
case  it  might  be  presumed,  without  gross  improbability, 
to  represent  a  praiseworthy  effort  on  the  part  of  a  Gaulish 
scribe  and  artist  for  the  delectation  of  some  wealthy 
patron  ;  and  to  have  visited  Italy  for  the  first  time  when 
it  made  its  way,  between  1455  and  1475,  into  the 
Papal  Library. 

Unlike  its  more  comely  neighbour  and  the  Milan  Iliad, 
the  Codex  Romanus  is  nearly  complete  ;  it  consists  of 
309  leaves  of  very  fine  vellum,  containing  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  Eclogues,  Georgics,  and  Aeneid.  There  are 
nineteen  miniatures,  many  of  them  full-page,  all  of  the 
full  width  of  the  text,  mostly  enclosed  in  rough  banded 
borders  of  red  and  gold.  The  first  seven  (including  the 
three  portraits  of  the  poet)  illustrate  the  Eclogues,  the 
next  two  the  Georgics,  and  the  last  ten  the  Aeneid.  The 
drawing  is  rough  throughout,  and  the  colouring  harsh. 
The  Virgil-portrait,  which  is  twice  repeated  with  practic- 
ally no  variation,  and  some  of  the  scenes  in  the  Aeneid 
were  doubtless  copied — as  well  as  the  painter  could — 
from  classical  models.  These  were  not  necessarily  minia- 
tures ;  the  patron's  house  may  well  have  been  adorned, 
like  that  at  Susa,  with  a  series  of  mosaics  illustrating  the 
Aeneid.  In  the  rest,  where  the  painter  probably  had 
nothing  but  his  own  imagination  to  guide  him,  the 

1  Man.  et  Mlm.)  iv,  1897,  pi.  xx,  pp.  233-44. 

II 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

designs  are  childish,  grotesque,  and  monotonous,  par- 
ticularly in  the  pastoral  pictures.  It  is  perhaps  worth 
noting  that  the  nimbus  here  occurs,  not  only — as  in  the 
Ambrosian  Iliad — as  an  attribute  of  the  gods  in  council, 
but  also  on  the  heads  of  Aeneas  and  others  when  sitting 
in  state,  whether  for  consultation  or  feasting. 

On  the  whole,  the  Codex  Romanus  is  of  little  use 
for  the  study  of  classical  illuminations ;  and  its  chance 
survival  has  done  injustice  to  their  memory.  It  is  on 
the  Ambrosian  Iliad  and  the  Vatican  Virgil  that  our  ideas 
of  Roman  miniature  must  be  based  ;  and  perhaps  also  on 
a  further  series  of  books  which,  though  not  dating  from 
such  early  times,  seem  to  have  preserved  the  ancient 
traditions  with  great  fidelity.  These  are  the  illustrated 
copies  of  the  Comedies  of  Terence,  many  of  which  have 
survived  to  us  from  the  ninth  and  later  centuries  ; l  they 
seem  to  have  enjoyed  a  great  and  unique  popularity 
during  the  Dark  Ages,  and  indeed  right  down  to  the 
twelfth  century.  Though  differing  considerably  in  age, 
they  are  much  alike  in  style.  A  more  or  less  fixed  tradi- 
tion for  their  illustration  had  evidently  been  early  set  up, 
probably  in  classical  times ;  and  since  there  are  few  more 
absolute  despots  than  an  established  iconography,  this 
tradition  was  never  disobeyed. 

By  far  the  best  of  these  manuscripts  is  No.  3868  in  the 
Vatican  Library.  It  is  of  the  ninth  century  ;  and  its 
finely  painted  miniatures  have  been  said  to  make  nearly 
all  other  illuminated  copies  of  the  Latin  classics  look 
squalid  in  comparison.2  Of  the  remainder,  perhaps  the 
Paris  MS.  7899,  also  ninth  century,  deserves  the  lead- 
ing place.  The  Ambrosian  MS.  H.  75  inf.,  tenth  century, 
is  imperfect ;  it  is  copiously  illustrated  with  rough  but 
very  expressive  outline-drawings,  tinted  in  blue  and 
brown,  of  figures — the  dramatis  personae  of  the  plays — 

1  Terentius.     Cod.  Ambros.  H,  75  inf.  phototypice  editus,  ed.  Bethe,  Leyden, 
1903  (vol.  viii  of  De  Vries,  Codices  Graeci  ct  Latini);  with  ninety  one  reproduc- 
tions from  other  Terence  MSS.  and  printed  books. 

2  Ibid.,  col.  10. 


12 


CLASSICAL    MANUSCRIPTS 

sometimes  with  suggestions  of  a  building,  but  with  no 
attempt  at  background  or  illusion.  Complete  manu- 
scripts usually  have  a  portrait  of  Terence  at  the  beginning, 
supported  by  two  actors  in  comic  masks.  After  this 
come  the  Comedies,  with  numerous  sketches  of  the  male 
and  female  performers  gesticulating  and  pointing  at  one 
another  in  violent  and  apparently  angry  conversation. 
The  men  are  nearly  always  masked ;  the  ladies  have 
streaming  hair,  and  their  attitudes  and  expressions  are 
full  of  excitement.  At  the  beginning  of  each  play  is 
a  sketch  of  the  faces  of  the  characters,  arranged  in  tiers, 
often  looking  out  from  the  front  of  a  theatre,  but  some- 
times simply  enclosed  in  a  rectangular  frame. 

With  the  Terence  codices  our  meagre  supply  of  clas- 
sical manuscripts  comes  to  an  end.  There  is  an  Iliad1  in 
S.  Mark's  Library  at  Venice,  of  the  tenth  or  eleventh 
century,  but  its  few  marginal  drawings  and  full-page 
pictures  are  aesthetically  negligible.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  the  drawings  of  constellations  which  occur  in 
manuscripts  of  Cicero's  Aratea.  An  Aeneid  was  illu- 
minated in  1198  by  the  monk  Giovanni  Alighieri,  in  gold 
and  colours,  and  was  preserved  down  to  1782  in  the 
Carmelites'  library  at  Ferrara;2  but  this  was  probably  an 
isolated  exception.  The  medieval  Church,  mother  of  the 
medieval  arts,  turned  the  art  of  the  miniaturist  to  more 
pious  uses  than  the  illustration  of  pagan  texts.  Not  until 
the  fourteenth  century  was  far  advanced  does  the  supply 
of  illuminated  classics  recommence.  Then,  and  still 
more  in  the  following  century,  when  the  Renaissance  had 
brought  Greek  and  Latin  literature  into  fashion  again,  we 
get  a  superb  series  of  illustrated  codices  by  Italian  and 
French  artists  ;  but  these,  being  classical  only  in  subject, 
will  be  best  treated  along  with  other  works  of  their  school 
and  date. 

1  Homeri  Ilias  cum  scholiis  Cod.  Ven.  A,  Marcianus  454,  ed.  D.     Comparetti, 
Leyden,  1901  (De  Vries,  Codd.  Gr.  et  Lat.,  vol.  vi). 

2  See  Brit.   Mus.,  Add.  MS.   22347,  ff.   69,   ^b ;    J.   W.   Bradley,  Did.  of 
Miniaturists )  i,  1887,  p.  22. 

13 


CHAPTER  II 

EARLY  CHRISTIAN   ILLUMINATION   TO  THE 
END  OF  THE  SIXTH   CENTURY 

WHEN  in  A.D.  330  the  seat  of  Imperial  govern- 
ment was  removed  from  Rome  to  Byzantium, 
the  centre  of  intellectual  and  artistic  activity 
also  moved  eastwards.     By  this  time  the  long-decadent 
Graeco-Roman  art,  the  pagan  world  from  which  it  had 
come,  were  almost  dead.     New  influences  were  gradually 
making  themselves  felt :  influences  which  finally  devel- 
oped, on  their  aesthetic  side,  into  that  which  we  call  the 
Byzantine  manner. 

Battles  have  long  raged  about  the  question  as  to 
whence  this  new  style  drew  its  chief  inspiration  :  whether 
from  Syria  or  Alexandria,  Byzantium  or  Rome.  All,  it 
would  seem,  contributed  something  towards  it.  This, 
however,  is  not  the  place  for  detailed  discussion  of  ques- 
tions which  belong  to  the  general  history  of  art ;  the 
reader  who  wishes  to  grapple  with  the  "  Byzantine 
question"  must  study  the  writings  of  those  who  have 
devoted  themselves  to  it.1  Here,  we  are  concerned  with 
the  evolution  of  style  only  in  so  far  as  it  affects  the  art  of 
illumination,  which  is  seen,  in  the  period  which  we  are 
considering,  "  standing  between  two  worlds "  :  taking 
something  from  the  past — as  the  early  Christians  took 
the  symbols  of  the  Catacombs — but  re-making  the  ele- 

1  For  a  concise  summary  of  most  of  the  contesting  theories  see  F.  X.  Kraus, 
Gtschichte  der  christlichcn  Kunsty  i  (Freiburg  i.  B.,  1896),  pp.  538-50.  But  the 
literature  has  grown  considerably  in  recent  years ;  for  fuller  and  more  up-to-date 
treatment  see  M.  Gabriel  Millet's  chapter  on  "L'art  byzantin"  in  A.  Michel's 
Histoire  de  I*  Art,  i,  pt.  i  (Paris,  1905),  pp.  127-301,  with  an  extensive  bibliography 
at  the  end. 

14 


EARLY   CHRISTIAN    ILLUMINATION 

ments  derived  from  that  past  in  the  light  of  a  new 
inspiration. 

The  new  style,  which  resulted  from  the  conflicting  in- 
fluences and  eclectic  culture  of  the  early  Byzantine  Empire, 
is  found  fully  developed  in  the  mosaics  of  the  sixth  cen- 
tury. In  illumination,  if  we  judge — as  we  must — from 
surviving  manuscripts,  the  process  of  assimilation  was  a 
slower  one.  Book-illustration  lagged  behind  the  other 
arts  ;  and  at  the  time  when  the  great  mosaics  of  Ravenna 
were  being  produced  it  showed,  alongside  the  character- 
istics which  link  it  with  those  works,  strange  barbarisms 
and  survivals  of  dead  tradition.  The  manuscripts  which 
remain  to  us,  however,  are  so  few  in  number  and  so 
diverse  in  manner,  and  so  little  is  known  of  their  birth- 
place or  their  date,  that  the  task  of  tracing  their  evolution 
is  extremely  difficult ;  the  attempt  to  pronounce  with  any 
certainty  upon  the  tendencies  which  they  represent,  practi- 
cally a  hopeless  one. 

It  would  be  misleading  to  give  the  name  Byzantine  to 
these  manuscripts  of  the  transition  period,  for  that  peculiar 
and  well-defined  manner  which  is  known  as  the  Byzantine 
style  is  not  yet  developed  in  them.  They  show  us  an  art 
which  was  in  a  fluid  and  transitional  state,  old  memories 
and  new  ideas  existing  side  by  side.  In  some,  the  decay 
of  the  classical  manner  is  still  far  more  apparent  than  the 
new  influence;  in  none  has  the  new  influence  really  "  found 
itself  "  and  attained  the  proportions  of  a  style.  Produced 
apparently  in  various  parts  of  Europe  and  Western  Asia, 
written  mostly  in  Greek  and  under  ecclesiastical  influences, 
they  are  best  described,  perhaps,  by  the  general  name  of 
Early  Christian;  since  the  new  aesthetic  ideals  which 
they  begin  to  exhibit,  if  not  wholly  to  be  attributed  to  the 
definite  triumph  of  the  Christian  religion,  at  any  rate 
developed  side  by  side  with  it. 

It  is  notorious  that  the  early  Church  adapted,  so  far 
as  she  could,  the  elements  of  pagan  symbolism  to  Christian 
use.  The  paintings  of  the  Catacombs  prove  this  suffi- 
ciently, and  their  testimony  is  confirmed  by  the  manuscripts 

15 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

of  the  Early  Christian  period.  This  free  adaptation  of 
classical  art  is  conspicuous  in  the  first  of  the  manuscripts 
which  we  have  here  to  consider,  so  far  as  we  can  judge 
from  its  present  much-damaged  condition.  This  is  the 
Quedlinburg  Itala  MS.,1  which  consists  of  five  leaves  from 
a  copy  of  the  "  Itala,"  or  Old  Latin  version  of  the  Bible, 
written  on  vellum  in  fourth  or  early  fifth  century  uncials. 
In  the  seventeenth  century  the  manuscript  appears  to 
have  been  at  Quedlinburg,  in  Prussian  Saxony,  and  to  have 
fallen  there  into  the  hands  of  a  bookbinder  who  thought 
it  just  good  enough  to  use  for  lining-up  the  covers  of  his 
books.  At  all  events,  these  five  leaves  were  found  there 
— two  in  1865,  two  in  1869,  one  in  1887 — in  the  bindings 
of  seventeenth  century  municipal  and  ecclesiastical  records. 
The  last  leaf  contains  text  only ;  the  other  four,  now  in 
the  Royal  Library  at  Berlin,  have  one  side  filled  with 
text  (parts  of  the  books  of  Samuel  and  Kings),  and  the 
other  with  illustrative  miniatures,  usually  four  to  a  page, 
in  compartments  formed  by  broad  red  bands.  It  has 
been  suggested  that  one  of  the  Saxon  emperors  may  have 
brought  the  manuscript  from  Italy  and  given  it  to  the 
monastery  at  Quedlinburg ;  but  this  is  merely  a  conjec- 
ture. Certainly  the  pictures  show  close  affinities  with 
those  in  the  Vatican  Virgil,  especially  with  those  which 
M.  de  Nolhac  assigns  to  the  third  hand ;  there  is  the 
same  use  of  gold  for  heightening  effects  in  dress  and 
other  accessories,  the  same  antique  conception  of  the 
human  figure.  The  paintings  are  in  thick  body-colour, 
much  of  which  has  now  disappeared,  leaving  the  pre- 
liminary outlines  bare  (note  the  departure  from  the  pure 
brush-work  of  the  Virgil) ;  but  enough  remains  to  give 
us  some  idea  of  the  bright  colouring  and  forcible  model- 
ling of  these  pictures  in  their  original  state.  There  are 
already  traces  of  the  method  of  treating  the  face  with 
sharp  high  lights  upon  the  forehead,  which  afterwards 
became  a  mark  of  the  Byzantine  school.  The  peeling  of 

1  Die    Quedlinburger    Itala-miniaturen  der  k.  Bibl.   in  Berlin,    ed.    Victor 
Schultze,  Munich,  1898. 

16 


EARLY   CHRISTIAN    ILLUMINATION 

the  colours  has  revealed  a  curious  feature  in  the  shape  of 
instructions  to  the  artist,  written  in  cursive  script  across 
the  field  of  the  pictures. 

Classical  methods  still  survive  in  the  next  great  relic 
of  Early  Christian  illumination,  the  Cotton  Genesis.  Pre- 
sented to  Henry  VIII  by  two  Greek  bishops  who,  we  are 
told,  had  brought  it  from  Philippi,  it  was  given  by  Queen 
Elizabeth  to  her  Greek  teacher,  Sir  John  Fortescue,  and 
by  him  again  to  Sir  Robert  Cotton.  In  1618  Cotton 
lent  it  to  Peiresc  to  collate  its  text ;  and  that  enthusiastic, 
if  somewhat  unscrupulous,  antiquary  made  various  pre- 
texts for  keeping  it  until  he  had  had  many  of  the  pictures 
copied.  He  intended  to  have  had  them  all  engraved, 
but  the  project  fell  through,  Cotton  insisting  at  last  on 
the  return  of  the  manuscript ;  and  only  two  of  the  copies 
are  extant.1  This  is  much  to  be  regretted ;  for  the  fire 
at  Ashburnham  House,  in  1731,  which  wrought  such  havoc 
in  the  Cottonian  Library,  left  only  a  mass  of  charred 
fragments  to  represent  this  once  beautiful  and  precious 
volume.  Some  of  these  went  astray,  and  are  now  in  the 
Baptist  College  at  Bristol  ;  the  rest,  150  pieces  in  all, 
have  been  inlaid  in  paper  leaves,  and  are  preserved  in 
the  British  Museum.2 

In  its  original  state  the  manuscript  contained  the 
Septuagint  version  of  Genesis,  in  uncial  writing  of  the 
fifth  or  sixth  century,  illustrated  with  about  250  minia- 
tures. None  of  these  have  survived  completely  ;  but 
the  best-preserved  fragments  suggest  strongly  that  the 
illumination  of  the  book  was  a  last  bright  flicker  on  the 
part  of  the  expiring  classical  school.  In  many  respects 
it  reminds  one  of  the  best  miniatures  of  the  Vatican 
Virgil  and  of  the  Ambrosian  Iliad.  It  shows  traces  of 
that  suavity  and  grace  which  art,  in  her  new  and  severely 
dogmatic  mood,  was  soon  to  lose.  On  one  or  two  of  the 

1  Paris,  Bibl.  Nat.,  fr.  9350,  ff.  31,  32,  published  with  Peiresc's  letters  by 
H.  Omont,  Facsimiles  des  Miniatures  des  MSS.  grecs,  1902.     The  second  one  may 
be  compared  with  its  now  mutilated  original,  Otho  B.  vi,  f.  18. 

2  Otho  B.  vi.     See  Cat.  Anc.  MSS.,  i,  p.  20,  pi.  8. 

2  17 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

pages  finely  designed  figures,  finished  with  deep  rich 
colour  and  much  use  of  fine  gold  lines,  still  remain  to 
show  us  what  these  pictures  must  have  been  in  their 
glory.  That  of  Lot  receiving  the  Angels  (f.  260),  one  of 
the  best  of  these  fragments,  has  still  its  delicate  back- 
ground of  undulating  country,  the  distant  lake  seen  blue 
between  the  hills ;  all  treated  with  a  greater  care  and 
naturalism  than  we  shall  find  in  the  manuscripts  of  the 
definitely  formed  Byzantine  school.  The  angels,  beauti- 
ful figures  in  rich  draperies  which  combine  the  old 
fashions  of  Rome  with  the  new  ones  of  Byzantium  in 
an  interesting  way,  are  painted  with  a  high  degree  of 
finish.  There  is  nothing  barbarous  here,  though  perhaps 
the  thick  dark  outline,  which  surrounds  the  figures  and 
indicates  the  details  of  the  faces,  is  a  decline  from  the 
softer  modelling  of  the  artist  of  the  Georgics  in  Vat.  3225. 
Another  charming  fragment  is  f.  24,  Hagar  and  the 
Angel.  Not  much  more  than  suggestions  of  the  angel's 
figure  remain,  but  the  left-hand  portion  of  the  picture  is 
complete,  showing  Hagar  seated  on  a  boulder  beside  the 
well,  with  the  wilderness  stretching  white  beyond  her  to 
the  horizon  ;  modelling,  drapery,  and  landscape  are  again 
excellent.  The  faces  too  are  often  treated  with  masterly 
skill,  e.g.  Eve  on  f.  3b,  or  Abraham's  followers  on  f.  19, 
especially  one  seen  three-quarter  face,  with  exquisite 
features  and  eyes  full  of  live  expression.  In  some  of 
the  miniatures,  as,  for  instance,  Abraham  and  the  Angels 
(f.  25),  there  is  a  trace  of  a  more  formal  manner,  stiff  and 
hieratic,  with  severe  modelling,  which,  coupled  with  the 
unclassical  costumes,  has  been  claimed  as  evidence  of 
Byzantine  origin.  Other  critics  find  traces  of  barbaric 
influence  in  the  manuscript,  e.g.  Kraus,1  who  finds  this 
in  the  "bearded  heads,"  though  as  a  matter  of  fact  most 
of  them  are  beardless !  But  any  general  imputation  of 
barbarism  is  emphatically  contradicted  by  the  assured 
and  graceful  drawing  still  to  be  found  in  many  of  the 

1  Op.  at.,  i,  p.  459. 
18 


EARLY    CHRISTIAN    ILLUMINATION 

fragments,  by  the  careful  harmony  of  the  colours,  and  by 
the  indescribable  but  obviously  classical  trend  of  the 
whole  work. 

The  miniatures  which  now  remain  are  all  enclosed  in 
plain  banded  borders  of  red,  black,  and  white  or  pale 
ye  low ;  they  are  of  the  same  width  as  the  text,  and  are 
placed  sometimes  above  it,  sometimes  below,  occasionally 
two  on  a  page,  with  or  without  a  few  lines  of  text  between. 
Thus  in  general  arrangement,  as  well  as  in  the  absence  of 
conventional  ornament,  the  manuscript  agrees  with  the 
Vatican  Virgil.  The  composition  of  the  subjects — at 
least,  of  such  as  can  still  be  traced — has  been  studied  in 
detail  by  Dr.  J.  J.  Tikkanen,1  who  points  out  that  the 
designs  recur  in  later  representations  of  scenes  from 
Genesis,  notably  in  the  series  of  mosaics  which  adorn  the 
atrio  of  S.  Mark's  at  Venice. 

Court  life  at  Byzantium,  as  we  know,  was  characterized 
by  pomp  and  ostentatious  splendour  of  all  kinds.  Among 
other  ways,  the  prevalent  taste  for  luxury  found  expres- 
sion in  the  production  of  sumptuous  manuscripts,  written 
in  gold  or  silver  uncials  upon  purple  vellum,  "  burdens 
rather  than  books,"  as  S.  Jerome  called  them  about  the 
end  of  the  fourth  century,  in  a  well-known  passage  of  his 
Preface  to  Job.  To  this  class,  though  to  a  somewhat 
later  time,  belong  the  next  three  manuscripts  on  our  list : 
the  Vienna  Genesis,  and  the  Rossano  and  Sinope  Gospels. 
A  still  closer  bond  unites  them,  for  their  mutual  resem- 
blances are  so  striking  as  to  leave  little  room  for  hesita- 
tion in  referring  all  three  to  the  same  period  and  locality. 
The  period  is  in  all  probability  the  first  half  of  the  sixth 
century.  The  locality  is  more  doubtful — perhaps  Byzan- 
tium itself,  perhaps  Syria,  perhaps  Asia  Minor ;  Sig. 
Mufioz,  their  most  recent  critic  of  authority,  decides  for 
the  last.2 

1  Archivio  Storico  dell'  Arte,  i,  1888-9,  PP-  2I2>  257>  34^;  republished  in 
German,  in  an  expanded  form  and  with  many  additional  illustrations,  in  Ada 
Societatis  Sdentiarum  Fennicae,  xvii  (Helsingfors,  1891),  p.  205. 

2  A.  Munoz,  //  Codice  Purpureo  di  Rossano  e  il  Frammento  Sinopense,  Rome, 
1907,  p.  27  ;  but  see  A.  Haseloff  in  L'Arte,  1907,  p.  471. 

19 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

Nothing  is  known  of  the  history  of  the  Vienna 
Genesis1  before  its  entry,  between  1609  and  1670,  into 
the  Imperial  Library  at  Vienna,  where  it  is  now  preserved 
under  the  denomination  Cod.  Theol.  graec.  31  ;  nothing, 
that  is,  beyond  an  inference  that  it  had  previously  been 
in  Italy.2  It  consists  of  twenty-four  leaves  of  vellum, 
stained  in  the  dull  and  unpleasant  purple  so  fashionable 
in  the  Dark  Ages,  and  containing  forty-eight  miniatures, 
one  on  each  page.  The  text,  which  fills  the  upper  part  of 
the  page,  is  in  silver  uncials.  It  is  not  a  complete  copy 
of  the  Book  of  Genesis ;  apart  from  lacunae  due  to  the 
loss  of  leaves,  large  portions  are  omitted — in  fact,  the 
scribe  seems  only  to  have  aimed  at  supplying  a  con- 
tinuous narrative  to  explain  the  illustrations.  Evidently 
this  was  a  sumptuous  Bible  picture-book,  probably  one 
of  a  large  class  which  vanished  either  in  consequence  of 
the  iconoclastic  controversy,  or  during  the  innumerable 
"alarums  and  excursions"  of  the  time.  When  we  re- 
member that,  in  Constantinople  alone,  the  Senate  House 
and  the  great  church  of  S.  Sophia,  with  all  their  treasures 
of  sacred  and  profane  art,  had  been  twice  burnt  down 
before  the  end  of  the  sixth  century ;  when  we  think  of 
the  wholesale  destruction  of  sacred  images  and  pictures 
— doubtless  including  pictured  books — by  the  Iconoclasts, 
which  began  in  725  under  Leo  the  I  saurian,  and  con- 
tinued for  over  a  century ;  the  sacking  of  Constantinople 
in  1204,  and  its  capture  by  the  Turks  in  1453,  it  is  not 
difficult  to  understand  why  so  few  manuscripts  dating  from 
early  Byzantine  times  remain  to  us.  The  rest  have  gone 
the  way  of  other  "  missing  links,"  to  the  confusion  of  the 
systematic  historian. 

The  Vienna  Genesis,  therefore,  may  be  taken  as  the 

1  Die   Wiener  Genesis,  ed.  Wilhelm  Ritter  von  Hartel  and  Franz  Wickhoff, 
1895  ;    forming  a   Beilage  to   vols.   xv    and   xvi   of  the   Vienna  Jahrbuch  der 
kunsthist.     Sammlungen.     See  too   Kondakoff,  Hist,  de  ? Art  byzantin>  i,    1886, 
pp.  78-91. 

2  So  Hartel,  p.  99.     Kraus  says  (i,  454)  that  it  was  acquired  by  "  Angelo  " 
Busbecke  in  Constantinople,  about  1562,  for  the  Imperial  Library,  evidently  con- 
fusing it  with  the  Dioscorides.     See  Busbecq's  Life  and  Letters ;  1881,  i,  417. 

2O 


EARLY    CHRISTIAN    ILLUMINATION 

sole  representative  of  a  once  numerous  family  of  books. 
It  is  in  fine  preservation,  and  has  long  been  one  of  the 
most  celebrated  of  Early  Christian  manuscripts.  Com- 
pared with  the  Cotton  Genesis  and  the  Quedlinburg  Itala, 
redolent  as  they  are  of  classical  sentiment  and  tradition, 
its  art  seems  crude  and  barbarous.  But  one  cannot  help 
being  struck  by  one  outstanding  characteristic — the  extra- 
ordinary vivacity  which  the  artist  has  given  to  his  scenes. 
In  spite  of  drawing  which  is  rough  and  faulty,  often 
grotesque,  and  of  colouring  which  is  sometimes  inhar- 
monious enough  to  suggest  complete  carelessness  of 
aesthetic  possibilities,  these  little  pictures  live.  They  do 
not  charm,  but  they  arrest  the  attention.  They  display 
a  positive  genius  for  the  direct  telling  of  a  story.  Never 
was  artist  more  "literary"  than  the  illustrator  of  this 
book.  The  telling  of  Bible  history,  not  the  production  of 
beauty,  was  his  aim  ;  but  his  stiff  little  figures,  with  their 
coarsely  marked  features  and  often  absurd  proportions, 
have  the  fascination  which  belongs  to  all  fresh  and  active 
things. 

Another  characteristic  of  the  Vienna  Genesis  is  the 
persistent  use  of  the  "continuous"  treatment,  i.e.  the 
representation  in  one  picture,  without  any  division,  of 
successive  scenes  or  moments  in  a  narrative.  This 
method,  which  became  popular  with  all  the  arts  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  was  already  known  in  classical  times ; 
indeed,  the  reliefs  of  Trajan's  column  afford  the  most 
perfect  example  of  its  use.  It  occurs  once  in  the  Vatican 
Virgil,  viz.  in  the  Laocoon  scene ;  but  this  is  the  first 
manuscript  in  which  its  capabilities  are  thoroughly  ex- 
ploited. In  other  respects  the  book  is  more  conservative. 
We  find  in  it  many  survivals  from  classical  art,  notably 
that  old  pagan  device  which  took  so  strong  a  hold  upon 
the  Christian  imagination — the  personification  of  natural 
things.  In  the  picture  of  Rebecca  at  the  Well,  the 
spring,  besides  being  represented  naturalistically,  also 
appears  as  a  half-draped  nymph  of  distinctly  classical 
type,  pouring  water  from  her  urn  ;  recalling  the  personifi- 

21 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

cation  of  Jordan  in  the  famous  fifth  century  mosaic  of 
the  Baptism  of  Christ,  in  the  Baptistery  at  Ravenna.1 

Many  details  of  costume  and  ceremonial  in  these 
miniatures  have  been  recognized  as  Byzantine ;  but  the 
dignity  of  the  fully  developed  Byzantine  style  is  not  even 
remotely  suggested.  The  work  is  that  of  artists  pos- 
sessed of  lively  visual  imagination  but  insufficient 
technical  skill.  The  characters  are  personified  success- 
fully, and  the  types  are  well  preserved,  so  that  Joseph, 
Jacob,  and  other  individuals  are  instantly  recognizable  in 
all  the  scenes  where  they  appear.  We  see  the  stories 
briskly  acted,  as  it  were,  by  rather  ridiculous  marionettes. 
Backgrounds  are  introduced,  for  the  most  part,  only  to 
the  extent  required  for  the  comprehension  of  the  subject ; 
but  in  the  last  twelve  miniatures,  and  a  few  of  the  others, 
an  attempt  is  made  to  heighten  the  pictorial  effect  by 
painting  in  a  background,  usually  of  greyish  blue.  The 
rest  are  painted  direct  on  the  purple  vellum,  sometimes 
within  a  plain  red  rectangular  frame.  Many  are  in  two 
compartments,  one  above  the  other,  but  with  no  division 
except  a  strip  of  colour  to  represent  the  ground  of  the 
upper  picture. 

The  Codex  Rossanensis2  is  a  book  of  very  different 
character,  though  its  superficial  resemblances  to  the 
Vienna  Genesis  point  to  its  being  of  much  the  same 
date  and  provenance.  There  is  a  change  in  the  painter's 
standpoint,  and  tendencies  begin  to  appear  which  after- 
wards became  characteristic  of  Greek  artists.  It  was 
unknown  to  the  outer  world  until  1879,  when  a  lucky 
chance  revealed  it  to  the  eminent  theologians  Drs. 
Harnack  and  von  Gebhardt.  Rossano,  in  whose  cathe- 
dral it  is  preserved,  is  an  ancient  city  of  Calabria,  which 

1  Venturi,  Storia  dell'  Arte  ital.,  i,  pp.  127,   284;   Diehl,  Ravenne,   1903, 

PP-  Si  37,  40- 

2  O.  von  Gebhardt  and  A.  Harnack,  Evangeliorum  Codex  graecus  purpureus 
Rossanensis,  Leipzig,  1880.     The  miniatures  were  first  published  photographically 
by  A.  Haseloff,  Codex  purpureus  Rossanensis,  Berlin,  1898;  afterwards,  in  colour, 
by  A.  Munoz,  //  Codice  Purpureo  di  Rossano  e  il  Frammento  Sinopense,  Rome, 
1907. 

22 


EARLY    CHRISTIAN    ILLUMINATION 

long  maintained  its  Byzantine  character.  The  Greek  rite 
and  language  were  used  in  its  church  down  to  the 
fifteenth  century ;  and  as  late  as  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  the  Gospel  on  Palm  Sunday  was  read  in 
Greek.  Hence  the  survival  of  a  Greek  service-book  is 
not  very  surprising.  There  is  no  tradition  as  to  how  the 
manuscript  came  there ;  perhaps,  as  has  been  suggested, 
it  was  the  gift  of  an  Emperor,  or  of  a  Patriarch  of 
Constantinople.  Its  Eastern  origin  is  clear,  not  only 
from  the  style  and  iconography  of  the  pictures,  but  also 
from  the  remarkable  agreement  of  its  text  with  that  of 
the  fragment  found  a  few  years  ago  at  Sinope,1  and  with 
that  of  the  dismembered  codex  known  to  Biblical  students 
as  N,  which  was  almost  certainly  written  either  at  Con- 
stantinople or  in  Asia  Minor.2 

Nearly  half  the  Codex  Rossanensis  is  wanting,  prob- 
ably through  fire,  of  which  there  are  traces  on  some  of 
the  surviving  pages  ;  but  luckily  no  damage  has  been 
done  to  the  illuminated  pages  which  remain.  Of  these 
there  are  fifteen,  viz.  twelve  miniatures  representing 
scenes  from  the  life  and  parables  of  our  Lord,  a  decora- 
tive frontispiece  to  the  Tables  of  Canons,  an  ornamental 
border  framing  the  first  page  of  the  Epistle  from  Euse- 
bius  to  Carpianus,  and  a  miniature  of  S.  Mark.  All  but 
the  last  are  at  the  beginning  of  the  volume,  which  con- 
tains nearly  the  whole  of  the  first  two  Gospels  in  Greek ; 
the  portrait  of  S.  Mark  is  prefixed  to  his  Gospel.  When 
complete,  the  manuscript  no  doubt  contained  the  four 
Gospels,  with  portraits  of  all  the  Evangelists,  and  with  a 
longer  series,  probably,  than  now  exists  at  the  beginning. 
The  Eusebian  Canons  must  have  followed  the  Epistle 
to  Carpianus ;  and  it  is  likely,  as  we  shall  see  later,  that 
they  were  enclosed  in  ornamental  arcades.  All  the  leaves 
are  of  purple  vellum,  and  the  text  is  in  silver  uncials, 
except  the  opening  lines  of  each  Gospel,  which  are  in  gold. 

1  See  H.  Omont  in  Notices  et  Extraits,  xxxvi,  pt.  ii,  1901,  p.  608. 

2  See   H.  S.  Cronin,    Codex  purpureus  Petropolitanus  (Texts  and  Studies^ 
vol.  v,  No.  4,  Cambridge,  1899),  pp.  xv,  xli,  xliii. 

23 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

Of  the  twelve  miniatures  at  the  beginning,  one  is  in 
two  compartments,  filling  the  whole  page :  in  the  upper, 
Christ  before  Pilate ;  in  the  lower,  Judas  returning 
the  thirty  pieces  and  hanging  himself.  The  next 
page  is  entirely  filled  with  the  "Christ  or  Barabbas" 
scene.  But  in  the  other  ten  pages  the  miniature  occupies 
the  upper  half  only,  the  lower  half  being  filled  with  a 
singular  device,  by  which  the  eye  is  "brought  to  the 
picture,"  and  which  marks  the  introduction  of  that  elabo- 
rate symbolism  so  congenial  to  the  Byzantine  tempera- 
ment. This  is  the  presence  below  each  picture  of  four 
half-length  figures  of  Old  Testament  prophets  and  types 
of  Christ,  who  stand  in  tribunes  inscribed  with  appropriate 
texts,  and  point  upwards,  each  with  his  right  hand,  to 
the  fulfilment  of  their  prophecies.  All  have  the  nimbus. 
David  appears  most  frequently,  sometimes  thrice  on  one 
page ;  he  and  Solomon  are  represented  alike,  with  fair 
hair  and  short  brown  beards,  and  are  distinguished  by 
their  crowns.  The  others  are  Moses,  Isaiah,  Sirach,  and 
seven  of  the  minor  prophets ;  they  are  depicted  indiffer- 
ently, so  far  as  individual  discrimination  goes,  with  one 
or  other  of  three  or  four  well-defined  types  of  face. 
Hosea,  for  instance,  has  on  one  page  a  smooth,  youthful 
face,  which  elsewhere  does  duty  for  Moses ;  on  another, 
he  is  an  old  man  with  white  hair  and  beard.  But  this 
apparent  carelessness  in  no  way  diminishes  the  symbolic 
effect :  they  are  important,  not  as  persons,  but  as  heralds 
of  the  Messiah,  and  their  high  office  is  to  proclaim  His 
presence,  and  to  point  out  the  mystical  significance  of 
His  acts. 

The  choice  of  subjects  too  is  in  some  respects  un- 
usual, and  is  instinct  with  the  same  theological  spirit. 
Some  of  the  compositions  are,  of  course,  those  common  to 
nearly  all  pictorial  treatments  of  the  life  of  Christ,  e.g. 
the  raising  of  Lazarus,  the  entry  into  Jerusalem,  the  Last 
Supper,  Gethsemane,  Christ  before  Pilate.  Other  sub- 
jects in  the  book,  however,  are  less  familiar.  The  fine 
dramatic  episode  of  the  choice  between  Christ  and 
24 


EARLY    CHRISTIAN    ILLUMINATION 

Barabbas,  here  specially  noticeable  for  the  supernatural 
character  given  to  Christ,  soon  dropped  out  of  the  tra- 
ditional series.  When  in  later  times  it  became  usual  to 
represent  the  Crucifixion,  no  doubt  the  earlier  scenes  of 
the  Passion  were  condensed.  Two  parables  also  are  re- 
markable for  their  unusual  treatment,  viz.  those  of  the 
wise  and  foolish  virgins  and  of  the  good  Samaritan.  In 
the  first,  we  see  in  the  centre  a  closed  door,  barring  the 
five  foolish  virgins  out  from  Paradise,  within  which 
Christ  stands,  accompanied  by  the  five  wise  virgins,  who 
wear  white  cloaks  and  hold  aloft  their  lamps,  which  have 
rather  the  appearance  of  flaming  torches.  The  river  of 
Eden,  with  its  four  heads,  appears  in  the  foreground,  and 
in  the  background  is  a  suggestion  of  a  wooded  park.  In 
the  second,  the  good  Samaritan  is  represented  by  Christ 
Himself,  three  distinct  phases  in  the  story  being  in  one 
undivided  miniature — the  only  unequivocal  instance  of 
"  continuous  "  treatment  in  the  book.  Christ,  assisted  by 
an  angel,  tends  the  wounded  man,  who  lies  prostrate  on 
the  ground ;  the  second  and  third  scenes  are  combined 
in  true  "  continuous "  method,-  our  Lord  being  depicted 
as  at  the  same  time  leading  a  mule  on  which  the 
wounded  man  is  seated,  and  giving  money  to  the  inn- 
keeper. 

But  perhaps  the  most  arresting  pages  in  the  whole 
book  are  the  two  which  follow  the  miniature  of  the  Last 
Supper  and  of  Christ  washing  the  disciples'  feet.  Under 
the  form  of  the  distribution  of  bread  and  wine  to  the 
apostles,  they  symbolize  the  mystical  institution  of  the 
Mass.1  The  communicants  approach  in  procession  ;  the 
foremost,  who  is  in  the  act  of  partaking,  bows  low  and 
bends  the  knee,  while  the  others  stand  or  advance  with 
devout  expectancy  expressed  in  every  gesture.  Christ, 
here  the  priest  rather  than  the  Redeemer,  makes  the 
initiate  a  participant  in  His  own  sacrifice.  In  this,  as 
in  the  figures  of  the  prophets,  the  theological  spirit  of 
Byzantine  art  clearly  declares  itself.  In  the  distribution 

1  See  plate  iii. 

25 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

of  bread,  Christ  is  at  the  extreme  left-hand  side  of  the 
picture,  and  the  communicants  approach  from  right  to 
left ;  but  this  arrangement  is  reversed  in  the  picture 
of  Christ  giving  the  cup.  This  circumstance  has  led 
Sig.  Munoz  to  argue,  with  much  force,  that  the  com- 
position of  the  two  miniatures  must  have  been  derived 
from  a  design  which  combined  both  scenes  in  a  single 
picture.  The  Eastern  Church  possesses  many  such 
representations  of  the  "  Double  Communion  "  in  mosaic, 
though  none  of  those  now  extant  can  be  dated  earlier 
than  the  eleventh  century.1  They  have  in  the  centre  an 
altar,  at  each  end  of  which  is  a  figure  of  Christ  as  priest, 
sometimes  accompanied  by  an  angel  as  deacon,  giving 
the  sacred  elements  to  the  apostles,  who  advance  in 
procession  from  right  and  left. 

It  is  interesting,  again,  to  find  that  at  this  early  date 
the  iconography  of  some  of  the  principal  scenes  in  the 
life  of  Christ  had  already  become  settled.  Here  we 
recognize  the  same  arrangement  of  the  personages,  the 
same  way  of  telling  the  story,  that  occurs  again  and 
again,  almost  without  variation,  in  liturgical  manuscripts 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  In  the  Raising  of  Lazarus,  for 
instance,  one  of  the  spectators  covers  his  nose  with  his 
cloak  as  the  corpse  issues  from  the  grave — a  touch  of 
realism  which  wandered  down  the  centuries,  and  appears, 
to  give  only  a  couple  of  instances,  in  Giotto's  fresco  in 
the  Arena  at  Padua,2  and  in  a  fourteenth  century  East 
Anglian  Psalter  in  the  British  Museum.3  In  the  Entry 
to  Jerusalem,  again,  the  main  outlines  of  composition 
are  exactly  the  same  as  in  almost  any  medieval  minia- 
ture of  the  subject :  the  advance  of  Christ  from  left  to 
right ;  the  multitude  carrying  palm-branches,  or  spreading 
garments  for  the  ass  to  tread  upon ;  the  spectators  who 
climb  trees  to  get  a  better  view — all  these  are  found  in 

1  See  P.  Perdrizet  and  L.  Chesnay  in  Fond.  E.  Piot,  Man.  et  Mem.t   x, 
pp.  123-44,  pi.  xii. 

2  See  No.  24  of  the  woodcuts  published  by  the  Arundel  Society,  1855. 

3  Arund.  83,  f.  i24b. 

26 


EARLY    CHRISTIAN    ILLUMINATION 

the  Codex  Rossanensis,  and  persisted  unchanged  down 
to  the  time  of  the  Italian  Renaissance. 

The  minuter  details,  however,  of  the  miniatures  in 
this  manuscript  have  been  shown  conclusively  by 
Dr.  Haseloff  and  Sig.  Munoz  to  prove  its  affinity  to 
the  monuments  of  Eastern  Christendom,  as  distinct 
from  Western ;  e.g.  Lazarus  stands  upright  at  the 
mouth  of  a  cave,  instead  of  rising  from  a  recumbent 
posture  in  a  coffin  ;  and  in  the  Entry  into  Jerusalem 
Christ  sits  sideways,  facing  the  spectator,  whereas  in 
Western  art  He  sits  astride.  Mention  has  already  been 
made  of  the  resemblance  to  the  Vienna  Genesis,  which 
shows  itself  mainly  in  the  facial  types  and  in  details  of 
architecture  and  costume ;  also — it  must  be  said — in  the 
painter's  lack  of  knowledge  how  to  suggest  a  picture 
in  three  dimensions.  There  is  little  perspective,  no 
atmosphere,  no  background,  except  in  the  Gethsemane 
scene,  where  the  purple  rocks  of  the  foreground  fade 
into  inky  darkness  in  the  distance,  with  a  blue  and  star- 
spangled  sky  above,  and  in  some  slight  touches  in  the 
Parable  of  the  Virgins.  But  the  miniatures  show  a 
decided  advance  on  the  art  of  the  Vienna  Genesis. 
They  are  quiet  in  manner,  with  a  sense  of  arrested 
movement  very  different  from  the  brisk  action  of  that 
work.  A  great  dignity  marks  the  conception  of  the 
characters,  especially  that  of  Christ,  whose  figure  some- 
times (as  in  the  Trial  before  Pilate,  and  still  more  in 
the  Choice  between  Christ  and  Barabbas)  does  actually 
suggest  a  spiritual  presence.  Here  He  is  no  more  the 
beardless  young  god  of  the  earliest  Christian  art,  the 
so-called  sarcophagus  type ;  but  a  mature  man  with  dark 
hair  and  beard,  dressed  in  a  deep  blue  robe  and  gold 
mantle,  and  wearing  a  gold  nimbus  on  which  the  out- 
lines of  a  cross  patee  are  traced  in  double  lines  in  a 
rather  unusual  way.  Even  in  such  animated  scenes  as 
the  Entry  into  Jerusalem,  the  artist  has  succeeded  in 
giving  to  His  face  and  figure  a  grave,  serene,  and  most 
impressive  majesty.  We  are  made  conscious,  through- 

27 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

out,  that  weighty  things  are  happening  in  a  solemn  and 
inevitable  way ;  and  mere  technical  shortcomings  are 
atoned  for  by  sincerity  and  depth  of  feeling. 

The  two  ornamental  pages,  though  slight  in  them- 
selves, deserve  notice  as  early  examples — perhaps  the 
earliest  extant — of  purely  decorative  illumination.  In 
the  frontispiece  to  the  canon-tables  the  title  is  enclosed 
within  two  concentric  circles,  the  space  between  which  is 
filled  (except  for  medallion  half-length  portraits  of  the 
Evangelists,  arranged  symmetrically)  with  overlapping 
discs  of  various  colours.  Only  the  first  page  remains  of 
the  Epistle  to  Carpianus.  The  text  is  surrounded  by  a 
rectangular  frame  of  gold,  bounded  by  black  lines  and 
having  pink  rosettes,  flowering  plants  in  natural  colours, 
black  doves  with  white  wings,  and  ducks  of  varied 
plumage  painted  upon  it  at  regular  intervals  so  as  to 
form  a  symmetrical  scheme.  A  similar  interest  attaches 
to  the  full-page  miniature  of  S.  Mark,  who  sits  in  a  sort 
of  basket-work  arm-chair,  his  implements  on  a  table  beside 
him,  and  writes  his  Gospel  on  a  roll  spread  over  his  knees, 
at  the  dictation  of  a  nun-like  woman  who  stands  over 
him,  and  who  has  been  interpreted  as  a  personification  of 
Divine  Wisdom.  She  does  not  appear  in  later  miniatures; 
in  Western  art  her  place  is  taken  by  the  Evangelist's 
emblem.  The  architectural  setting  too  is  of  an  unusual 
type  :  a  semicircular  shell-pediment,  coloured  blue,  pink, 
and  gold  in  strips  radiating  fan-wise  from  the  centre,  and 
flanked  by  sharp-pointed  gables  terminating  in  gold  discs, 
rests  on  an  entablature  supported  by  two  pillars.  In  its 
composition  generally,  however,  as  well  as  in  many  of  the 
actual  details,  this  miniature  may  be  regarded  as  the 
prototype  of  the  long  series  of  Byzantine,  Celtic,  and 
Carol ingian  Evangelist-portraits,  which  usually  formed 
the  chief  adornment  of  manuscripts  of  the  Gospels. 

For  twenty  years  the  Codex  Rossanensis  was  the  only 

known  representative  of  its  class.     But  a  second  came  to 

light  in  April,  1900,  when  the  National  Library  in  Paris 

acquired  a  precious  fragment,  which  a  French  officer  had 

28 


EARLY    CHRISTIAN    ILLUMINATION 

discovered  a  few  months  before  in  the  Greek  colony  of 
Sinope,  on  the  northern  coast  of  Asia  Minor.1  It  is  now 
numbered  Suppl.  gr.  1286,  but  is  better  known  as  the 
Codex  Sinopensis.  It  consists  of  forty-three  leaves  of 
purple  vellum,  containing  about  a  third  of  S.  Matthew's 
Gospel  in  Greek,  written  throughout  in  gold  uncials 
(unique  in  this  respect  among  Greek  Gospel-books),  with 
five  miniatures.  The  text,  which  M.  Omont  published  in 
1 90 1,2  is  of  the  same  recension  as  the  Codex  Rossanensis  ; 
the  date  is  in  all  probability  nearly  the  same ;  and  the 
miniatures  in  the  two  manuscripts  are  closely  allied.3 
Another  leaf,  which  must  have  been  in  its  proper  place 
(between  ff.  2 1  and  22)  as  recently  as  the  end  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  is  in  the  Gymnasium  at  Mariupol,  near 
the  Sea  of  Azov. 

The  miniatures  in  the  Codex  Sinopensis  do  not  fill 
the  whole  page,  but  only  the  lower  margin,  coming  below 
the  text  which  they  illustrate.  Hence,  they  are  on  a 
smaller  scale  than  those  of  the  Rossano  book  ;  their 
execution  is  much  cruder,  less  finished  and  dignified, 
suggesting  an  earlier  phase  in  the  development  of  the 
school.  There  are  two  prophets,  instead  of  four,  to  each 
miniature  ;  and  instead  of  being  ranged  below  the  picture 
and  pointing  to  it  with  uplifted  arm  and  hand,  in  the 
emphatic  manner  of  the  Codex  Rossanensis,  they  stand 
one  on  each  side,  their  tribunes  bounding  the  picture  and 
somewhat  dwarfing  it,  and  themselves  looking  down  on 
it  and  timidly  extending  two  fingers ;  a  much  weaker 
conception.  The  subjects  are  the  death  of  S.  John  the 
Baptist,  the  two  miracles  of  feeding  the  multitude  (the 
first  badly  mutilated),  Christ  healing  the  two  blind  men, 
and  cursing  the  barren  fig-tree.  The  figures  are  painted 
directly  on  the  purple  vellum,  as  in  the  Codex  Rossa- 

1  First  announced  by  M.   H.  Omont  in  the  Comptes  rendues  of  the  Acad. 
des  inscr.  et  belles-lettres,  1900,  p.  215. 

2  Not.  et  Extr.,  xxxvi,  ii,  pp.  599-675. 

J  The  four  complete  ones  of  Cod.  Sinop.  have  been  reproduced  in  Not.  et 
Extr.  as  above,  and  (in  colours)  in  Fond.  E.  Piot,  Mon.  et  M<!m.t  vii,  1901,  pi. 
xvi-xix ;  all  five  in  Omont,  Facsimiles,  pi.  A,  B,  and  in  Mufioz,  op.  tit.,  pi.  A,  B. 

29 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

nensis,  but  with  still  less  attempt  at  background  or  per- 
spective ;  not  even  the  ground  beneath  their  feet  is  in- 
dicated, except  in  the  third  picture,  where  the  people  sit 
in  tiers  on  the  grass.  The  anatomy  and  proportions  are 
poor,  the  heads  being  usually  too  large  for  the  stunted 
bodies  and  limbs.  As  in  the  Codex  Rossanensis,  Christ 
is  represented  with  dark  hair  and  beard,  but  the  majestic 
calm  and  dignity  so  noticeable  there  are  lacking ;  and  the 
compositions  are  altogether  more  vivacious,  less  static. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  artist  has  sometimes  succeeded 
admirably  with  the  faces,  which  are  on  the  whole  less 
ceremonial  and  more  instinct  with  human  life  and  indi- 
viduality than  those  of  the  principal  characters  in  the 
other  manuscript,  e.g.  the  expression  of  gentle  benevo- 
lence with  which  Christ  regards  the  two  blind  men,  the 
fine  thoughtful  face  of  Moses  in  the  third  miniature,  or 
the  wild  unkempt  hermit  who  stands  for  Habakkuk  in 
the  fifth.  The  prophets  here  too  are  nimbed  ;  David 
appears  four  times,  always  wearing  a  crown  with  a  double 
row  of  pearls  ;  Moses  thrice,  with  a  different .  face  each 
time ;  Isaiah,  Habakkuk,  and  Daniel  once  each,  the  last 
a  beardless  youth  wearing  a  high  cap  adorned  with 
pearls. 

The  ornamental  pages  of  the  Codex  Rossanensis  are 
paralleled  by  fragments  of  two  other  Greek  Gospel-books 
of  the  sixth  or  early  seventh  century,  one  in  the  British 
Museum,1  the  other  in  the  Imperial  Library  at  Vienna.2 
The  former  consists  of  two  imperfect  leaves  of  vellum, 
gilded  on  both  sides,  and  containing  parts  of  the  Epistle 
to  Carpianus  and  of  the  Eusebian  Canons.  The  Epistle 
is  framed  in  a  depressed  arch,  the  Canon-tables  in  round- 
arched  arcades  ;  columns,  pediment,  and  arches  profusely 
decorated  with  geometrical  patterns  and  other  conven- 

1  Add.  5111,  ff.  10,  ii.     See  Cat.  Anc.  MSS.,  i,  p.  21,  pi.  n.    Two  pages 
were  reproduced  by  Haseloff,  Cod,  purp.  Ross.^  pp.  44, 45 ;  and  all  four,  in  colour, 
by  H.  Shaw,  Illuminated  Ornaments,  1833. 

2  No.  847,  ff.  1-6 ;  described  and  reproduced,  partly  in  colour,  by  F.  Wick- 
hoff  in  the  Vienna  fahrbuch,  xiv,  1893,  pp.  196-213. 

30 


EARLY    CHRISTIAN    ILLUMINATION 

tional  ornament,  especially  floral  scroll-work ;  with 
medallion-heads  of  saints,  mostly  of  similar  type  to  those 
in  the  Rossano  title-page ;  and  with  birds,  fishes,  and 
flowers.  The  colours,  among  which  blue  and  carmine 
predominate,  are  wonderfully  fresh  and  well  preserved, 
and  stand  out  brightly  against  the  gold  ground  which, 
though  faded,  still  serves  to  suggest  the  pristine  splendour 
of  the  manuscript.  Especially  noteworthy  is  the  natural- 
ism, both  in  colour  and  form,  of  a  plant  which  springs 
from  the  capital  of  one  of  the  columns  on  the  first  page : 
stalk,  leaves,  buds,  and  full-blown  flower  with  deep 
crimson  petals,  all  have  the  appearance  of  being  faithfully 
copied  from  nature. 

The  Vienna  fragment  contains  the  Eusebian  Canons, 
with  frontispiece,  and  a  title-page  for  the  four  Gospels. 
It  is  bound  up  at  the  beginning  of  a  Latin  manuscript 
(Rufinus)  of  about  the  same  age,  which  has  an  almost 
identical  frontispiece.  The  design  in  both  is  rigidly  sym- 
metrical ;  it  consists  of  a  cross  enclosed  by  two  concentric 
circles,  and  standing  on  a  sort  of  Y-shaped  device  which 
spreads  out  at  the  foot,  below  the  circles,  into  two  wavy 
lines  ;  each  of  these  ends  in  a  leaf,  and  has  a  flowering  plant 
growing  out  of  it.  In  the  Greek  page,  the  wavy  lines 
also  support  two  peacocks  facing  one  another ;  the  Latin 
has  instead  two  birds  of  less  determinate  species  (Prof. 
Wickhoff  confidently  calls  them  doves)  just  below  the 
arms  of  the  cross.  This  close  agreement  is  of  great 
interest,  though  not  so  helpful  as  it  would  be  if  the 
provenance  of  the  two  manuscripts  were  known.  The 
Canon-tables  are  in  arcades,  usually  round-arched,  but 
with  a  gable  top  in  one  place  ;  the  arches  and  shafts  of 
columns  are  covered  with  ornamental  patterns,  including 
cable,  zigzag,  and  strapwork,  and  on  one  page  are  birds 
pecking  at  fruit.  The  title-page  has  a  double  banded 
frame  covered  similarly  with  decoration,  but  produces 
a  less  pleasing  effect. 

Our  next  manuscript  is  of  Asiatic  origin,  but  its  con- 
nection with  European  art  is  too  unmistakable  and  vital 

31 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

for  us  to  ignore  it.  Among  its  many  points  of  interest 
is  a  welcome  feature — all  too  rare  in  these  early  manu- 
scripts, and  not  so  frequent  as  might  be  wished  among 
those  of  later  date — in  the  shape  of  an  inscription 
telling  us  when,  where,  and  by  whom  it  was  written.  It 
is  a  copy  of  the  four  Gospels  in  Syriac,  written  in  586 
by  Rabula  the  Calligrapher  in  the  monastery  of  S.  John 
at  Zagba,  in  Mesopotamia,  and  now  preserved  in  the 
Laurentian  Library  at  Florence.1  Like  the  two  Greek 
fragments  which  we  have  just  noticed,  and  like  almost  all 
later  Greek  manuscripts  of  the  Gospels,  it  contains  the 
Eusebian  Canons  in  decorated  arcades.  It  has  also 
seven  full-page  miniatures  of  surpassing  interest  for  the 
history  of  Christian  art,  especially  the  four  at  the  end  of 
the  book,  which  represent  the  Crucifixion,  the  Ascension, 
Pentecost,  and  Christ  enthroned  in  a  sanctuary.  The 
Crucifixion  appears  here  for  the  first  time  in  illumination, 
and  there  are  few  extant  examples  of  its  treatment,  in  any 
form  of  art,  which  can  be  assigned  with  any  confidence 
to  an  earlier  date.  As  in  many  of  the  oldest  represen- 
tations of  the  subject,  Christ  wears  a  long  sleeveless  tunic 
(colobium),  whilst  the  two  thieves  are  draped  in  loin- 
cloths only.  Above  the  arms  of  the  cross  are  the  sun 
and  moon,  emblems  of  mourning  nature  which  recur 
again  and  again,  e.g.  in  an  English  Psalter  of  the  thirteenth 
century.2  Longinus  pierces  the  Saviour's  right  side  with 
a  lance,  while  a  soldier  stands  on  the  other  side  holding 
up  the  sponge  filled  with  vinegar.  At  the  foot  of  the 
cross  sit  three  soldiers  dividing  the  raiment.  The  Virgin 
and  S.  John,  and  the  three  Maries,  form  the  extreme  left 
and  right  groups  of  the  picture.  Its  special  importance 

1  Fully  described  in   the   Catalogues  of  S.  E.  Assemani,   1742,  p.   i,  and 
A.  M.  Biscioni,  1752,  i,  p.  44.     Both  have  woodcuts  of  the  twenty-six  illuminated 
pages,  which  are  also  engraved  by  R.  Garrucci,  Storia  della  Arte  Cristiana,  iii, 
1876,  taw.  128-40.     For  photographic  reproductions  see  Venturi,  i,  pp.  162,  163, 
and  C.  Diehl,  fusftnien,  1901,  pi.  iv,  v,  p.  500.     Doubts  have  been  raised  as  to  the 
authenticity  of  the  inscription,  but  may  be  disregarded  in  view  of  Ceriani's  note  in 
Studia  Biblica,  ii,  1890,  p.  251. 

2  See  pi.  xxii. 

32 


EARLY    CHRISTIAN    ILLUMINATION 

is  iconographical  rather  than  artistic,  but  from  the  latter 
point  of  view  too  it  has  just  claims  to  consideration. 
There  is  a  sketchiness  and  lack  of  finish  about  this  minia- 
ture, as  about  all  the  illuminations  in  the  volume  ;  but  the 
work  is  always  wonderfully  effective  and  expressive,  and 
at  times  succeeds  in  conveying  the  idea  of  spiritual  beauty 
and  grandeur.  In  the  Pentecost  scene,  for  instance,  there 
is  great  dignity  in  the  figure  of  the  Virgin,  who  stands  in 
the  central  foreground  with  the  apostles  grouped  about 
her,  a  composition  which  is  repeated  down  to  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  The  arcades  are  decorated  with  zigzag, 
check,  meander,  and  other  patterns,  and  peacocks  and 
other  birds  appear  on  many  of  the  pages,  usually  stand- 
ing on  the  arches.  On  the  margins  outside  the  arcading 
is  a  series  of  small  paintings  of  scenes  from  the  Gospel- 
history.  Among  these  is  the  Annunciation,  in  the  divided 
form  familiar  to  students  of  medieval  Italian  art :  the 
angel  in  the  left-hand  margin,  the  Virgin  in  the  right. 
Another  very  interesting  scene  recalls  the  "  Double  Com- 
munion "  of  the  Codex  Rossanensis,  but  the  treatment  is 
very  different  and  far  less  solemn  and  impressive  :  Christ 
holds  the  cup  in  His  left  hand,  while  with  the  right  He 
gives  bread  to  one  of  the  apostles,  behind  whom  the  other 
ten  stand  clustered.  On  the  same  page  is  the  Entry  into 
Jerusalem,  much  more  compressed  than  in  the  Rossano 
book,  but  agreeing  closely  with  it.  A  comparison  of  the 
two  manuscripts  has  indeed  led  some  critics  to  claim 
a  Syrian  origin  for  the  Codex  Rossanensis.  But  on  the 
other  hand  it  has  been  suggested  that  the  Rabula  Codex 
was  copied  from  a  Greek  original — a  suggestion  to  which 
the  blundered  inscription  "  Loginos "  in  Greek  uncials, 
over  the  head  of  Longinus,  seems  to  lend  some  support. 
Whatever  may  be  the  truth  as  to  these  theories,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  Byzantine  and  Western  art  owed  much 
to  Syrian  influence. 

This  has  been  brought  out  clearly — if  perhaps  with 
something  of  the  pardonable  exaggeration  of  a  pioneer — 
by  Dr.  Strzygowski,  especially  in  his  valuable  monograph 
3  33 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

on  the  Etschmiadzin  Gospel-book.1  This  is  a  tenth  cen- 
tury copy  of  the  Gospels  in  Armenian,  bound  up  with 
two  sets  of  illuminated  pages  in  which  he  recognizes, 
largely  from  their  resemblance  to  the  Rabula-book,  the 
work  of  Syrian  painters  of  the  sixth  century.  The  same 
details  of  ornament — decorated  arcades,  peacocks,  ducks, 
foliage,  etc. — occur  in  both  manuscripts,  besides  many  of 
the  same  compositions.  The  most  interesting  feature, 
perhaps,  is  a  sanctuary  with  a  convex  dome,  not  unlike  a 
Chinese  pagoda,  surmounted  by  cross  and  orb  and  sup- 
ported by  Corinthian  columns.  This  appears  in  a 
somewhat  modified  form  in  the  Rabula-book,2  and  is 
repeated,  with  striking  exactness,  in  the  "  Fountain  of 
Life"  pictures  of  the  Carolingian  Gospel-books  of  the 
ninth  century  ;8  a  conclusive  proof  of  the  indebtedness  of 
Carolingian  to  Eastern  art. 

The  famous  Vienna  Dioscorides4  is  probably  of  earlier 
date  than  any  but  the  first  two  of  the  manuscripts  already 
mentioned  in  this  chapter.  Belonging  as  it  does,  how- 
ever, to  an  entirely  different  class,  it  is  best  considered 
separately.  The  six  full-page  miniatures  at  the  beginning 
form  a  link  between  the  decaying  Graeco- Roman  art  and 
the  later  Byzantine  school ;  while  the  numerous  and 
exquisite  coloured  drawings  of  plants  and  animals,  with 
which  the  text  is  illustrated,  make  this  manuscript  the 
common  ancestor  of  all  the  illuminated  herbals  and 
bestiaries  of  the  Medieval  and  Renaissance  periods.  In 
this  respect  too  it  connects  classical  with  medieval  art ; 
for  Pliny5  tells  us  that  it  was  the  custom  for  Greek 
medical  writers  to  illustrate  their  works  with  paintings 

1  Das  Etsckmiadzin-Evangdiar.   Bcitragc   zur   Geschichte   der    armenischcn, 
ravennatischtn  und  syro-dgyptischen  Kunst,  Vienna,  1891  (Byzant.  Denkmdlcr,  i). 

2  Garrucci,  tav.  129. 

3  See  pi.  x. 

*  Published  in  complete  facsimile,  with  introduction  by  A.  von  Premerstein 
and  others,  as  torn,  x  (pts.  i  and  ii)  of  De  Vries,  Codd.  Gr.  et  Lat.,  1906.  Shorter 
notices  abound ;  the  most  useful  is  that  by  E.  Diez,  "  Die  Miniaturen  des  Wiener 
Dioskurides,"  in  Byz.  Denkm.,  iii,  1903,  pp.  1-69. 

5  Nat.  Hist.,  xxv,  4. 

34 


EARLY    CHRISTIAN    ILLUSTRATION 

of  herbs.  Since  he  goes  on  to  complain  of  their  general 
inadequacy,  the  Dioscorides  probably  represents  the  high- 
water  mark  of  this  branch  of  illumination,  most  of  its 
successors  falling  far  short  of  it  in  delicacy  of  execution. 
The  six  miniatures  at  the  beginning  are  all  badly  rubbed, 
and  the  first  (a  peacock  with  outspread  tail)  is  mutilated 
in  addition.  The  second  and  third  are  of  famous  physi- 
cians in  groups  of  seven,  including  Chiron  the  Centaur  ; 
the  fourth  illustrates  the  fable  of  the  mandrake  uprooted 
at  the  cost  of  a  dog's  life,  and  the  fifth  Dioscorides  writing 
the  description  of  the  mandrake  while  an  artist  paints  it, 
a  lady  personifying  Discovery  in  both  pictures.  All  these 
four  are  enclosed  in  banded  frames,  ornamented  with 
wreaths,  quatrefoils,  lozenges,  and  scroll-work.  The  sixth 
is  the  dedication-page,1  and  shows  the  manuscript  to  have 
been  executed  for  the  Princess  Juliana  Anicia,  probably 
in  512,  on  the  occasion  of  her  founding  a  church  at 
Honoratae,  a  suburb  of  Constantinople ;  but  at  any  rate 
before  her  death  in  52y-8.2  It  is  a  portrait  of  Juliana, 
enthroned  between  Prudence  and  Magnanimity  in  the 
central  panel  formed  by  two  interlacing  squares  inscribed 
in  a  circle.  The  geometrical  framework  is  adorned  with 
cable-pattern,  and  in  the  interstices  charming  little  putti 
play  with  emblems  of  the  various  arts  patronized  by  the 
Princess.  The  composition  of  the  group  is  exactly  that 
of  contemporary  consular  diptychs,3  but  the  framing 
rather  recalls  mosaic  ornament  of  an  earlier  period. 
Thus  the  transitional  condition  of  art  at  the  time  is  well 
exemplified  by  this  manuscript,  which  forms  as  it  were  a 
symbolic  link  between  the  Classical  and  Byzantine  styles. 

1  Often  reproduced,  e.g.  in  Kraus,  i,  p.  429;  Venturi,  i,  p.  141.     A  splendid 
reproduction  in  colours  accompanies  Dr.  A.  von  Premerstein's  valuable  article  in 
the  Vienna  Jahrbuch^  xxiv,  pp.  105-24. 

2  See  the  facsimile  ed.,  introd.,  cols.  7-9. 
8  Cf.  Venturi,  i,  p.  367. 


35 


CHAPTER   III 
BYZANTINE   ILLUMINATION 

PRACTICALLY  no  Greek  illuminated  manuscripts 
of  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries  have  survived, 
and  they  do  not  begin  to  be  plentiful  until  the 
closing  years  of  the  ninth :  a  lacuna  largely  due,  no  doubt, 
to  the  Iconoclastic  controversy,  which  raged  from  725  to 
842,  and  which,  though  mainly  concerned  with  paintings 
on  a  larger  scale,  must  have  been  unfavourable  to  the 
preservation  and  production  of  works  of  art  of  all  kinds. 
There  is  an  evident  continuity  of  tradition,  however,  be- 
tween the  Early  Christian  illuminations  and  those  of  the 
later,  more  definitely  formed  Byzantine  school.  Many  of 
these  later  manuscripts  were  written  and  illuminated  in 
Italy,  especially  in  Southern  Italy,  where  Greek  influence 
persisted  long  after  the  decay  of  the  Empire  had  become 
far  advanced  ;  many  too  were  doubtless  produced  in  the 
cities  and  monasteries  of  Western  Asia,  until  the  Turkish 
invasion  swept  away  their  civilization.  But  it  is  convenient 
and  appropriate  to  group  them  all  together  under  the  name 
Byzantine,  for  a  certain  well-marked  and  easily  recog- 
nizable manner  is  common  to  all;  and  this  manner, 
whencesoever  it  primarily  drew  its  chief  inspiration, 
certainly  flourished  conspicuously  in  and  about  Byzantium 
itself,  under  the  patronage  of  the  Imperial  court.  The 
leading  principles  of  Byzantine  illumination  became  fixed, 
it  would  seem,  about  the  end  of  the  ninth  century,  in  the 
time  of  Basil  the  Macedonian ;  it  reached  its  highest  per- 
fection in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  and  then  fell 
gradually  into  decadence  until  at  last,  lifeless  in  conception 
and  coarse  and  weak  in  execution,  it  no  longer  deserved 
the  name  of  art. 
36 


PLATE  IV 


GOSPELS.  BYZANTINE,  X!TH  CENT. 

BRIT.    MUS.    BURNEY    19 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

which  succeed  by  their  very  stateliness  and  remoteness 
from  actuality  in  raising  the  mind  to  a  plane  of  rapture 
and  awe. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  Byzantine  illumination 
of  this  type  was  largely  influenced  by  the  contemporary 
art  of  mosaic.  Many  of  its  miniatures  are  but  mosaics  in 
little,  and  reproduce  the  usual  accessories  of  such  mosaics 
as  are  still  to  be  seen  in  churches  of  the  Byzantine  style, 
just  as  Western  illuminators  of  the  thirteenth  and  four- 
teenth centuries  copied  the  sculptured  decorations  of 
Gothic  architecture.  To  the  influence  of  mosaic  may 
probably  be  traced  the  stiffness  of  the  forms,  the  majestic 
pose  of  the  figures,  perhaps  too  the  depth  and  richness  of 
the  colouring. 

The  second  stream  of  influence,  however,  owes  nothing 
to  contemporary  architecture  or  the  style  of  decoration 
evolved  in  connection  with  it.  Its  origins  are  classical ; 
and  we  find  it  in  the  ninth  century  existing  side  by  side 
with  the  hieratic  style,  as  in  the  early  Italian  Renaissance 
the  pointed  and  classical  styles  dwelt  together.  It 
is  evident  that  under  Basil  the  Macedonian  and  his 
successors,  after  the  long  puritanic  period  of  the  Icono- 
clasts, beauty  came  into  fashion  again,  and  artists  were 
called  upon  to  satisfy  the  aesthetic  cravings,  as  well  as  the 
religious  instincts,  of  their  clients.  The  masterpieces  of 
classical  art,  of  which  many  then  existed  that  have  since 
perished,  were  pressed  into  the  service  as  models.  Some 
miniatures,  especially  of  the  tenth  century,  are  so  imbued 
with  the  classical  spirit  that  they  have  been  held  to  be 
copies  of  lost  originals  dating  back  to  the  earliest  periods 
of  Christian  art.  But  it  is  more  probable  that  sugges- 
tions were  adopted,  or  groups  or  single  figures  copied, 
from  pagan  paintings  or  sculptures  of  still  greater  an- 
tiquity. Whatever  be  the  truth  on  this  point,  classical 
influence,  at  any  rate,  is  evident  and  strongly  marked ; 
and  that  not  only  in  such  devices  as  the  personification 
of  qualities  (e.g.  Strength,  Repentance,  and  so  on),  or  of 
rivers,  mountains,  and  towns,  but  also  in  the  treatment  of 
38 


BYZANTINE    ILLUMINATION 

individual  figures  and  groups,  and  occasionally  in  the 
composition  of  a  whole  picture,  as  in  the  famous  repre- 
sentation of  David  as  Orpheus. 

Finally,  that  lively  and  primitive  manner,  full  of  brisk 
movement  and  vividly  depicted  action,  so  noticeable  in 
the  Vienna  Genesis,  survived  along  with  the  Neo-Classical 
style  and  that  remote  and  impassive  dignity  which  de- 
scends from  the  Codex  Rossanensis  and  the  Ravenna 
mosaics.  Many  of  the  best  manuscripts  of  the  tenth  and 
eleventh  centuries  show  this  manner  in  a  high  degree, 
sometimes  actually  in  conjunction  with  the  static  style. 
In  the  representation  of  a  martyrdom,  for  instance,  the 
executioners  are  often  animated  figures,  going  about  their 
horrid  work  with  the  utmost  vigour,  while  the  saint — a 
symbol  of  divine  patience  rather  than  the  portrait  of  a 
living  man — seems  wrapped  in  another  atmosphere  than 
that  of  his  persecutors. 

The  Vatican  Library  possesses  a  copy  of  Ptolemy's 
Tables,1  written  in  814,  and  adorned  with  representations 
of  the  sun,  moon,  months,  hours,  and  signs  of  the  zodiac, 
painted  on  blue  or  gold  grounds  ;  apparently  carrying  on 
the  tradition  of  the  Calendar  of  Filocalus,  which  has 
been  noticed  in  chapter  i.  Astronomical  and  geographical 
personifications  also  appear  in  the  Christian  Topography 
of  Cosmas  Indicopleustes,  composed  about  547-9  on 
Mount  Sinai,  where  its  author,  a  native  of  Alexandria, 
had  settled  as  a  monk  after  a  life  of  travel  had  earned 
him  his  surname.  This  work  must  have  been  illustrated 
from  the  first,  as  Dr.  Strzygowski  points  out,2  the  text 
abounding  in  references  to  the  diagrams  and  other  illus- 
trations. The  best  known,  and  probably  the  oldest,  of 


1  Cod.  Vat.  gr.  1291.     See  P.  de  Nolhac  in  Gazette  Archlol^  1887,  p.  233, 
and   La   Bibliothique  de  Fulvio   Orsini,  1887,  P-   68;   A.   Riegl,   Die  mittelalt. 
Kalenderillustration,  in  Mitthtihingen  d,  Inst.  f.  oest.  Geschichtsforschung,  x,  1889, 
p.  70. 

2  Der  Bilderkreis  des  gr.  Physiologus,  des  Kosmas  Indikopleustes  und  Oktateuch> 
nach  Hss.  dtr  Bibl.  zu  Smyrna,  1899  (Krumbacher's  Byzant    Archiv.  Hef,  tz), 
P-  54- 

39 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

the  existing  copies  is  the  one  preserved  in  the  Vatican.1 
It  has  been  assigned  by  some  critics  to  the  seventh,  or 
even  to  the  sixth,  century ;  but  we  think  it  safer  to  accept 
the  verdict  of  the  editors  of  the  New  Palaeographical 
Society,  who  place  it  in  the  ninth  century.  Its  minia- 
tures, like  those  of  most  Byzantine  manuscripts,  are 
much  disfigured  through  the  colours  flaking  off ;  but  it  is 
evident,  from  what  remains,  that  in  finish  and  technique 
a  great  advance  has  been  made  on  the  Codex  Rossa- 
nensis.  Most  of  the  subjects  are  Biblical,  and  the  treat- 
ment is  generally  formal  and  anti-realistic,  an  effect  which 
is  heightened  by  the  entire  lack  of  background,  giving 
the  figures  a  disconnected  appearance.  The  heads  are  in 
many  cases  too  big  for  the  bodies ;  and  that  excessive 
pleating  of  the  draperies,  which  became  a  foible  of  Byzan- 
tine painters,  is  already  noticeable.  Isolated  figures,  how- 
ever, are  rich  in  solemn  charm,  such  as  the  Madonna  who 
stands  with  Christ,  S.  John  the  Baptist,  Zacharias,  and 
Elizabeth,  in  one  of  the  full-page  miniatures.  In  others, 
again,  animation  is  portrayed  with  some  success,  as  in 
the  picture  of  the  Babylonians  amazed  at  the  backward 
motion  of  the  sun. 

One  of  the  best  and  most  valuable  documents  for  the 
study  of  Byzantine  illumination  of  the  ninth  century  is 
the  Paris  copy  of  the  Sermons  of  S.  Gregory  Nazianzen,2 
a  large  volume  with  forty-six  full-page  miniatures,  ap- 
parently executed  for  the  Emperor  Basil  I  (867-886), 
whose  portrait,  standing  between  the  prophet  Elijah  and 
the  archangel  Gabriel,  fills  one  of  the  pages,  and  whose 
patron  S.  Basil  also  figures  prominently.  Another  page 
represents  the  Empress  Eudocia  with  her  two  young 
sons  Leo  and  Alexander;  her  eldest  son,  Constantine, 
who  died  in  880,  is  ignored,  so  the  manuscript  may  be 
dated  880-6.  Three  distinct  styles,  all  characteristic  of 

1  Le  miniature  della  topografia  cristiana  di  Cosma  Indicopkustc,  Cod.  Vat.  gr. 
699,  ed.  C.  Stornajolo,  1908  (Codd.  e  Vat.  selecti,  vol.  x).     See  too  EArte,  1909, 
pp.   160-2;    New  Pal.  Soc.y  pi.  24;    Venturi,  i,  pp.   153-7;    Diehl,  Jttstinien, 
pi.  iii,  pp.  265,  401,  411. 

2  Bibl.  Nat.,  gr.  510.     See  Omont,  Facsimiles,  pp.  10-31,  pi.  xv-lx. 

40 


BYZANTINE    ILLUMINATION 

Byzantine  illumination,  are  shown  in  the  miniatures. 
First  we  have  the  archaic  manner  which  recalls  the 
Vienna  Genesis :  animated  compositions  in  the  "  con- 
tinuous "  method,  but  quite  lacking  all  sense  of  beauty ; 
the  figures  are  short,  stiff,  and  awkward,  with  absurdly 
big  heads  and  protruding  eyes,  and  the  attempts  to 
render  facial  expression  are  generally  grotesque.  The 
miniatures  painted  in  this  manner  are  mostly  on  a  com- 
paratively small  scale ;  several  scenes  on  one  page,  either 
in  separate  panels  or  in  a  continuous  series  without 
division.  The  history  of  Jonah,  for  instance,  is  treated 
altogether  in  the  continuous  method,  the  whole  story 
being  crowded  into  one  picture  ;  that  of  Joseph  combines 
both  methods,  the  page  being  divided  into  five  compart- 
ments, each  of  which  contains  several  scenes  ;  while  a 
third  page  is  in  twelve  compartments,  each  illustrating 
the  martyrdom  of  an  apostle.  The  other  subjects  are 
mostly  Biblical ;  they  include  a  picture  of  the  Crucifixion 
with  Christ  in  a  long  sleeveless  tunic,  and  adhering  in 
many  other  respects  to  the  primitive  type  of  the  Rabula 
manuscript. 

The  second  manner  concerns  itself  solely  with  orna- 
mental effect,  and  tends  to  stiff  magnificence.  In  it  we 
have  the  stately,  bejewelled,  highly  decorative  pages 
which  recall  the  most  gorgeous  of  the  Byzantine 
mosaics.  It  is  most  noticeable  in  the  portraits  of  Basil 
and  Eudocia,  already  mentioned,  and  in  the  impressive 
figure  of  S.  Helena,  who  stands,  vested  as  empress,  with 
three  other  saints  in  a  splendid  full-page  miniature  of  an 
angel  proclaiming  the  Redemption.  This  style  was  evi- 
dently considered  the  right  thing  for  imperial  portraits. 
We  find  it  so  used  in  many  later  manuscripts,  e.g.  for  the 
portraits  of  Alexius  Comnenus  (Emperor  1081-1118)  in 
a  Vatican  manuscript,1  and  for  those  of  Nicephorus 
Botaniates  (Emperor  1078-81)  in  the  Paris  manuscript 
of  the  Homilies  of  S.  John  Chrysostom  ;2  in  one  of  the 

1  No.  666,  see  Venturi,  ii,  pp.  462,  476. 

2  Bibl.  Nat.,  Coislin  79 ;  Omont,  pi.  bci-lxiv. 

41 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

latter,  representing  Nicephorus  with  his  chief  officials,  it 
is  exaggerated  into  grotesquely  wooden  formalism.  It  is 
sometimes  spoken  of  as  "debased  Byzantine";  but  it 
certainly  co-existed  with  the  best  manner  of  Byzantine 
painting,  and  was  probably  recognized  as  expressing — 
perhaps  with  a  touch  of  satire — the  quintessence  of 
courtly  ceremony.  In  the  Gregory  Nazianzen,  for  in- 
stance, it  is  found  side  by  side  with  miniatures  in  which 
the  prevailing  influence  is  classical.  Of  these  last,  the 
most  celebrated  is  the  Vision  of  Ezekiel ;  they  are  not 
yet  frankly  Graeco-Roman,  like  many  later  miniatures 
(especially  of  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries),  but  com- 
bine the  tightly  clinging  Byzantine  draperies  with  the 
freer  pose  of  classically  conceived  figures. 

When  we  reach  the  tenth  century,  however,  we  find 
that  the  transitional  phase  represented  by  the  Gregory 
Nazianzen  has  passed.  The  Paris  Psalter,1  with  its 
allied  manuscripts,  and  the  Vatican  Joshua  Roll2  are 
absolutely  pagan  in  their  art,  if  Christian  in  their  sub- 
ject. In  fact,  many  of  the  compositions  of  the  Joshua 
Roll  are  so  full  of  the  classical  spirit  that  one  is  tempted 
to  regard  it  as  a  production  of  the  third  or  fourth  century. 
But  the  Greek  text  which  accompanies  the  drawings  is 
written  in  minuscules  of  the  tenth  century;3  and  the 
drawings  themselves  are  more  nearly  akin  to  miniatures 
of  that  period  of  classical  renaissance  than  to  any  actually 
existing  ones  of  earlier  date,  so  we  hesitate  to  accept  the 
theory  that  a  tenth  century  scribe,  having  found  the 
pictured  roll,  proceeded  to  fill  in  the  text.  Another 
hypothesis,  put  forward  by  some  critics  of  this  much- 
disputed  work,  is  that  the  pictures  are  a  faithful  copy 
from  a  much  earlier  original.  It  must  be  admitted  that 

1  Bibl.  Nat.,  gr.  139;  Omont,  pi.  i-xiv. 

2  Cod.  Vat.  Pal.  gr.  431 ;  published  photographically,  partly  in  colour,  by 
the  Vatican   authorities,   //  rotulo  di   Giosite,    Hoepli,    Milan,    1905.     See   too 
Pal.  Soc.,  i,  1 08. 

3  It  is  true  that  some  of  the  figures  have  titles  written  against  them   in 
capitals;    but   this   feature   also  occurs  in   such  manuscripts   as  Pans   139  and 
Vat.  Reg.  gr.  i,  both  of  the  tenth  century. 

'  42 


BYZANTINE    ILLUMINATION 

this  view  derives  some  support  from  the  fact  that  gaps 
are  left  in  the  text,  as  though  the  scribe  had  sometimes 
been  unable  to  read  his  original.  This  fact,  however, 
only  tends  to  prove  that  an  earlier  series  of  illustrations 
existed,  having  the  same  subjects  as  those  in  the  Joshua 
Roll.  It  does  not  at  all  necessarily  follow  that  the  treat- 
ment was  the  same ;  and  indeed  it  is  difficult  to  believe 
that  a  mere  servile  copyist  could  have  produced  these 
spirited  groups  of  soldiers,  these  charming  and  spon- 
taneous personifications  of  cities,  rivers,  and  mountains. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  seems  likely  enough  that  the  actual 
compositions,  in  their  main  outlines,  were  taken  from 
earlier  designs.  It  has  been  pointed  out  that  many  of 
the  subjects  are  found  in  the  fifth  century  mosaics  of 
S.  Maria  Maggiore  ;*  and  we  have  seen  in  the  Cotton 
Genesis  an  example  of  an  illustrated  Biblical  codex 
dating  back  to  the  same  period.  The  artist,  then,  may 
have  had  before  his  eyes  an  earlier  set  of  illustrations, 
though  it  is  highly  improbable  that  he  contented  himself 
with  copying  them. 

The  history  of  the  Joshua  Roll  is  not  known  farther 
back  than  1571,  when  it  appears  in  a  list  of  the  manu- 
scripts owned  by  Ulrich  Fugger ;  but  there  are  some 
accounts  on  the  back,  in  Greek,  written  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  showing  that  it  was  then  in  Greek  hands.  Its 
form  is  unusual,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  see  precisely  for 
what  purpose  it  was  intended — perhaps  as  designs  for 
a  series  of  mural  paintings.  It  is  now  in  fifteen  separate 
membranes,  placed  between  the  leaves  of  a  large  album ; 
but  until  1902  these  membranes  were  glued  together, 
end  to  end,  and  formed  one  long  roll  of  vellum,  thirty- 
two  feet  by  about  one  foot — originally  much  longer,  for 
it  is  clearly  imperfect  both  at  beginning  and  end.  The 
back  was  left  blank,  and  the  front  covered  with  drawings 
of  the  deeds  of  Joshua,  forming  a  continuous  series 
throughout  the  length  of  the  roll,  with  abridged  extracts 
from  the  Greek  text  of  the  book  of  Joshua,  explaining 

1  See  Venturi,  i,  380. 

43 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

the  several  scenes,  written  in  short  columns  below 
them.  The  outlines  are  drawn  in  brown  ink,  and  some 
parts  have  been  lightly  tinted.  Critics  have  doubted 
whether  this  incomplete  colouring  is  not  the  work  of  a 
later  hand  ;  but  if  the  drawings  were  meant  to  serve  as 
models  for  mural  paintings,  the  artist  may  well  have 
thought  it  enough  to  indicate  the  respective  colours  of 
the  various  objects  :  armour  blue,  draperies  brown,  and 
so  on.  But  whatever  may  be  the  true  solution  of  the 
problems  which  confront  the  student  of  the  Joshua  Roll, 
no  one  could  refuse  to  consider  it  a  masterpiece.  The 
drawings  are  broad  in  treatment,  correct  as  to  anatomy, 
and  full  of  movement.  In  such  scenes  as  the  carrying 
of  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  or  others  in  which  crowds 
of  soldiers  are  represented,  depth  as  well  as  linear  ex- 
tension is  suggested.  The  figures  have  unity  with  their 
surroundings,  and  the  artist  evidently  aimed  at  pro- 
ducing an  illusionist  picture,  not  merely  at  representing 
an  event.  The  influence  of  classical  art  is  everywhere 
strikingly  apparent  ;  nowhere  more  so  than  in  the 
personifications  of  cities,  some  of  which  are  extremely 
beautiful,  especially  the  graceful  goddesses  who  repre- 
sent Ai  and  Jericho.  The  whole  composition  has  been 
compared,  not  unjustly,  to  the  series  of  reliefs  on 
Trajan's  column. 

The  Paris  Psalter,  Bibl.  Nat.  gr.  139,  is  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  of  Byzantine  manuscripts.  Acquired  in 
Constantinople  by  a  French  ambassador  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  it  had  probably  belonged  to  the  Imperial  Library. 
The  text  is  in  minuscules  of  the  tenth  century  ;  and  the 
fourteen  full-page  miniatures  are  doubtless  of  the  same 
date,  though  M.  Omont  has  shown  that  the  fourteen 
leaves  which  contain  them  (each  on  a  verso  page,  with 
the  recto  blank)  are  independent  of  the  quires  of  text, 
and  might  possibly,  therefore,  have  been  inserted  later.1 
The  first  of  these  is  the  famous  picture  of  David  with 
the  harp,  inspired  by  Melody  ;  a  design  which  seems  to 


p.  5 
44 


BYZANTINE    ILLUMINATION 

have  become  justly  popular  from  the  moment  of  its  pro- 
duction. It  appears  again  and  again  in  later  manu- 
scripts, slavishly  copied  by  hands  of  varied  degrees  of 
incompetence.1  In  all  of  them  the  main  features  of  the 
composition  are  reproduced,  and  some  repeat  every 
detail :  Melody  sitting  at  David's  right  hand,  with  her 
hand  on  his  shoulder ;  Echo,  as  a  nymph  peeping  round 
a  pillar  in  the  corner ;  the  reclining  figure  in  the  fore- 
ground who  represents  Bethlehem ;  even  the  individual 
animals  which  have  been  charmed  to  stillness  by  the 
music.  But  the  Paris  miniature  is  far  superior  to  the 
others  in  freedom,  grace,  and  proportion ;  and  we  can 
hardly  be  wrong  in  regarding  it  as  their  archetype.  Its 
very  excellence  makes  us  doubtful  about  accepting  the 
view  that  it  is  a  copy  of  a  lost  antique  representation  of 
Orpheus.  That  the  artist  had  much  of  the  classical 
spirit  is  very  plain ;  the  central  group,  for  instance,  may 
be  compared  with  a  Pompeian  painting  of  the  death  of 
Adonis.2  But  Byzantine  miniatures  of  the  tenth  century 
abound  in  evidence  of  a  classical  renaissance ;  and  the 
miniature  in  question,  while  doubtless  owing  its  original 
idea  to  some  Graeco-Roman  picture  of  Orpheus  taming 
the  beasts,  seems  likely,  from  its  free  handling  and  easy 
grace,  to  have  been  the  work  of  a  brilliant  artist  who 
had  absorbed  the  spirit  of  his  model,  rather  than  an 
exact  copy  made  by  a  patient  craftsman.  Copies  are 
nearly  always  tight  and  laboured — qualities  not  to  be 
detected  in  this  work. 

Many  of  the  other  miniatures  of  the  Paris  Psalter, 
though  perhaps  not  so  beautiful  as  that  of  David  and 
Melody,  show  the  same  classical  influence,  and  rise  to  a 
high  artistic  level.  Especially  good  are  David  slaying 
the  Lion,  with  a  beautiful  Diana-like  personification  of 
Strength  coming  to  his  assistance ;  and  Isaiah  receiving 
inspiration,  standing  between  the  figures  of  Dawn  and 

1  See  Venturi,  ii,  fig.  306-11.     To  these  may  be  added  Brit.  Mus.,  Add. 
36928,  f.  44b,  late  eleventh  century. 
-  Museo  BorbonicO)  ix,  pi.  37. 

45 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

Night.  Dawn  is  a  boy  holding  up  a  torch ;  the  more 
poetically  conceived  Night  is  a  regal-looking  woman,  her 
torch  drooping  and  half-extinguished,  and  a  scarf  thrown 
like  a  cloud  above  her  head.  The  effect  is  somewhat 
marred  by  the  figure  of  Isaiah,  whose  draperies  cling 
tightly  in  the  manner  already  noted  as  characteristic  of 
Byzantine  painting.  Two  other  fine  pages  are  Nathan 
rebuking  David,  with  Penitence  standing  near ;  and  the 
Prayer  of  Hezekiah.  A  third  page,  David  in  imperial 
garb,  standing  between  Wisdom  and  Prophecy,  combines 
classic  grace  and  dignity  with  the  more  rigid  symmetry 
of  a  late-Roman  consular  diptych. 

The  remaining  eight  miniatures  are  probably  the  work 
of  an  inferior  hand ;  they  are  akin  to  the  Biblical  scenes 
in  the  Gregory  Nazianzen,  and  show  little  or  no  trace  of 
classical  influence,  except  in  a  few  isolated  figures,  such 
as  the  personification  of  Meekness  in  the  Anointing  of 
David,  or  the  charming  nymph  representing  Boastfulness, 
who  flees  in  dismay  from  the  side  of  Goliath.  We  have 
in  them  crowded  compositions,  filled  with  vigorous  but 
undignified  and  often  ill-proportioned  figures — the  heads 
usually  too  big,  and  the  legs  too  short.  In  the  colouring 
too  there  is  a  noticeable  falling  off.  Some  of  the  scenes, 
however,  are  interesting  on  other  than  purely  aesthetic 
grounds,  e.g.  the  Crowning  of  David,  who  stands  on  a 
shield  upheld  by  soldiers,  illustrating  the  picturesque 
coronation  ceremony  of  the  Byzantine  Emperors.1 

The  Paris  Psalter  is  the  best,  as  well  as  probably  the 
earliest,  extant  example  of  what  has  been  called  the  "  aris- 
tocratic" group  of  Psalters,  in  contradistinction  to  the 
"  monastic-theological "  group,  in  which  there  are  no  full- 
page  miniatures,  but  only  marginal  illustrations.2  Other 
members  of  the  group  are  No.  54  in  the  Ambrosiana,  and 
two  Mount  Athos  MSS.,  Vatopedi  609  and  Pantocrator 
49,  of  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries.8  A  small  volume 

1  See  Bury,  Later  Roman  Empire,  ii,  70. 

2  Tikkanen,  Die  Psalttrillustration  im  Mittelalter,  1895,  etc. 

3  Michel,  i,  i,  221-5. 
46 


BYZANTINE    ILLUMINATION 

recently  acquired  by  the  British  Museum1  belongs  to  the 
same  class  ;  it  was  executed  about  the  end  of  the  eleventh 
century,  and  contains  eight  full-page  miniatures,  mostly  of 
subjects  represented  in  the  Paris  manuscript.  The  colours 
have  flaked  off  badly,  so  that  some  of  the  pictures  are 
scarcely  recognizable  ;  but  enough  remains  of  the  "  David 
and  Melody"  composition  and  others  to  show  that,  although 
painted  with  much  delicacy,  they  are  lacking  in  ease  and 
freedom.  One  feature  worth  noting  is  the  magenta  priming 
which  appears  where  the  gold  background  has  peeled  away; 
in  most  Byzantine  manuscripts  the  gold  leaf  and  pigments 
seem  to  have  been  laid  directly  on  the  vellum  without  any 
preliminary  ground,  though  some  twelfth  century  and  later 
manuscripts  show  traces  of  red  priming  below  the  gold.2  A 
much  more  stately  volume  is  the  Vatican  Psalter,  Cod. 
Vat.  Pal.  gr.  381,  but  of  later  date  (twelfth  to  thirteenth 
century)  and  with  only  four  miniatures,3  each  filling  the 
whole  page.  Three  of  these  are  plainly  derived  from  the 
Paris  Psalter,  with  which  they  agree  in  practically  every 
detail  of  composition,  though  far  inferior  in  execution  ; 
these  are  David  and  Melody,  David  standing  between 
Wisdom  and  Prophecy,  and  Moses  receiving  the  law  on 
Mount  Sinai.  The  fourth  miniature  repeats  this  last  sub- 
ject, differently  treated,  and  perhaps  represents  the  renewal 
of  the  tables ;  it  was  no  doubt  copied  from  some  illus- 
trated Biblical  manuscript,  but  the  subject  seems  to  have 
been  comparatively  rare. 

With  these  Psalters  must  be  classed  a  fine  Bible  in 
the  Vatican,  Cod.  Vat.  Reg.  gr.  i.  This,  a  votive  offering 
in  honour  of  the  Virgin,  was  given  by  Leo  the  Patrician, 
a  high  official  of  the  Imperial  palace ;  and  so  is  probably 
a  fair  sample  of  the  best  work  of  the  court  miniaturists  of 
the  time,  i.e.  the  first  half  of  the  tenth  century.  Leo's 
gift  comprised  the  whole  Bible,  in  two  volumes ;  but  only 

1  Add.  36928. 

2  e.g.  Brit.  Mus.,  Add.  35030;  also  19352,  noticed  below. 

3  Collczione.  Paleografica  Vaticana,  L  Miniature  della  Bibbia  Cod.  Vat.  JReg. 
gr.  i  e  del  Salterio  Cod.  Vat.  Pal.  gr.  381,  Milan,  1905. 

47 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

vol.  i  remains,  containing  the  text  from  Genesis  to  Psalms, 
with  eighteen  full-page  miniatures,  which  have  been  pub- 
lished in  the  same  volume  with  the  four  from  the  Psalter 
just  mentioned.  Two  of  these  are  identical  in  composition 
with  miniatures  in  the  Paris  Psalter,  viz.  Moses  on  Mount 
Sinai  and  Samuel  anointing  David.  A  third,  the  Coro- 
nation of  Solomon,  differs  only  in  names  and  minor  details 
from  the  Coronation  of  David  in  the  Paris  manuscript. 
Other  pages  correspond  equally  closely  with  those  of  the 
Paris  Gregory  Nazianzen ;  while  in  style,  as  in  probable 
date,  the  painting  stands  midway  between  that  of  the  two 
Paris  books — more  finished  than  the  Gregory,  rougher 
than  the  Psalter. 

The  Neo-classical  wave  was  spent  by  the  end  of  the 
tenth  century.  Illuminations  of  later  date  show  little 
trace  of  its  influence,  apart  from  direct  imitations  of  older 
manuscripts,  as  in  the  Psalters  already  mentioned  or  in 
the  Octateuch  MSS.  Of  these  there  are  five  extant,  of 
the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries :  two  in  the  Vatican,1 
one  at  Smyrna,2  one  on  Mount  Athos,3  and  one  in  the 
Seraglio  at  Constantinople.4  They  contain  the  first 
eight  books  of  the  Bible,  in  Greek,  illustrated  with  a 
great  abundance  of  small  miniatures.  Their  artistic 
merit  is  not  particularly  great — in  this  respect  one  of  the 
latest,  the  Vatican  MS.  746,  is  decidedly  the  best;  but 
they  are  of  interest  from  their  extraordinarily  close  agree- 
ment with  one  another,  not  only  in  the  choice  of  subjects, 
but  in  the  mode  of  treatment  down  to  the  minutest  details 
of  iconography.  Moreover,  it  is  obvious  that  the  illus- 
trations of  the  book  of  Joshua  must  have  been  derived 
from  the  Joshua  Roll,  or  at  least  from  a  common  ancestor. 

1  Gr.  746  and  747.     Many  of  the  miniatures  are  published  in  the  introduction 
to  II  rotulo  di  Giosue,  1905. 

2  Strzygowski,  Bilderkreis,  pp.  113-26,  pi.  xxxi-xl. 

3  Vatopedi  515,  described  by  H.  Brockhaus,  Die  Kunst  in  den  Athos-Klostcrn, 
Leipzig,  1891,  pp.  212-17. 

4  For  reproductions,  see  Album  to  vol.  xii  of  the  Bulletin  de  F Institut  Archlol. 
Russe  a    Constantinople ;   1907,  which    also  contains   many  of  the  Smyrna  and 
Vatopedi  miniatures. 

48 


BYZANTINE    ILLUMINATION 

Just  the  same  groups  occur,  in  the  same  antique  garb, 
though  not  handled  in  the  same  masterly  way ;  the  same 
personifications  of  cities,  but  with  faint  relics  only  of  the 
delicate  grace  and  charm  of  the  original.  One  of  these 
has  by  mistake  been  put  in  the  picture  following  that  to 
which  it  properly  belonged ;  proving  clearly  that  the 
archetype  must  have  been  a  continuous  series  of  paint- 
ings, whether  the  Vatican  Joshua  Roll  or  a  lost  one  of 
similar  design.1 

Of  the  "  monastic-theological "  family  of  Psalters,  i.e. 
those  with  only  marginal  illustrations,  the  earliest  extant 
specimens  date  from  the  end  of  the  ninth  century.2  The 
British  Museum  possesses  a  very  fine  example,3  written 
in  1066  by  the  arch-priest  Theodore  of  Caesarea  for 
Michael,  Abbot  of  the  Studium  monastery  at  Constanti- 
nople. Almost  every  one  of  its  208  leaves  has  the 
margins  filled  with  paintings,  for  the  most  part  executed 
with  great  delicacy.  There  are  no  backgrounds ;  the 
figures,  with  such  few  accessories  as  were  indispensable 
for  the  representation  of  the  scenes  depicted,  are  painted 
direct  on  the  plain  vellum  page,  and  so  have  at  the  first 
glance  a  quaint  appearance  of  standing  or  walking  upon 
nothing.  .The  pigments  have  flaked  away  in  many  places  ; 
and  an  inspection  of  the  places  where  this  has  happened 
discloses  two  interesting  facts.  In  the  first  place,  it  is 
clear  that  the  gold  leaf  was  laid  on  a  red  priming,  but 
where  colours  were  used  there  is  no  trace  of  any  pre- 
liminary preparation  of  the  vellum  surface.  Secondly, 
outlines  were  drawn  with  the  pen,  very  lightly,  apparently 
in  watered  ink,  before  the  colours  were  laid  on ;  except 
where  precise  definition  of  form  was  not  wanted,  as  in 
the  case  of  watercourses,  which  are  represented  by  broad 
wavy  lines  of  blue.  The  figures,  which  are,  of  course,  on 

1  Strzygowski,  p.  120. 

z  Tikkanen,  i,  pp.  n  seq.  For  the  one  on  Mount  Athos,  Pantocrator  61, 
see  Brockhaus,  pp.  177-83,  pi.  17-20. 

8  Add.  19352.  See  Pal,  Soc.,  i,  53;  F.  G.  Kenyon,  Facsimiles  of  Biblical 
MSS,,  190°,  pi.  vii;  G.  F.  Warner,  Reproductions  from  Illuminated  MSS.,  ser. 
ii,  1907,  pi.  2,  3. 

4  49 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

a  small  scale,  dainty  rather  than  majestic,  are  on  the 
whole  admirably  drawn,  graceful,  and  well  proportioned ; 
and  the  varied  scenes  are  vividly  portrayed,  despite  the 
lack  of  background.  The  animated  style  predominates, 
but  not  to  the  exclusion  of  the  statuesque,  which  is  often 
used  for  single  figures,  e.g.  for  David  standing,  with 
hands  uplifted  in  adoration,  before  an  icon  of  the 
Saviour — a  subject  which  recurs  on  page  after  page. 
The  colouring  is  subdued  for  the  most  part,  one  of  the 
prevailing  tints  being  an  almost  leaden  blue ;  but  the 
pages  are  brightened  up  with  touches  of  gold  in  the 
draperies,  and  with  copious  use  of  red,  and  the  general 
effect  is  pleasing  and  harmonious. 

The  chief  value  of  the  Theodore  Psalter,  however, 
lies  in  the  wealth  and  variety  of  its  illustrations,  rather 
than  its  purely  artistic  interest.  The  painter  was  not 
hampered  in  his  choice  of  subjects  by  a  sense  of  con- 
gruity.  To  illustrate  the  text  was  his  purpose,  whether 
by  naively  literal  or  elaborately  symbolical  methods.  For 
instance,  Ps.  xi.  2  is  represented  by  three  wicked  men 
shooting  arrows  with  malicious  vigour  at  the  upright  in 
heart  (f.  lob) ;  Ps.  xii.  3,  by  an  angel  standing  on  the 
boaster's  chest  and  snipping  off  "  the  tongue  that  speak- 
eth  proud  things"  (f.  nb);  Ps.  Ixxviii.  25,  by  an  angel 
giving  a  cake  to  an  old  man  (f.  102);  Ps.  cxxvii.  i,  by 
workmen  with  ladder,  pulleys,  etc.,  building  a  house 
(f.  170) ;  and  so  on.  Pictorial  renderings  of  a  less  elemen- 
tary kind  are  given  to  such  passages  as  Ps.  xxxix.  6, 
where  we  see  porters  and  mule  laden  with  money-bags, 
which  the  young  heir  is  emptying  at  a  girl's  feet  (f.  47). 
Ps.  Ixxviii,  cv,  and  cvi  are  accompanied  by  pictures  of 
the  plagues  of  Egypt  and  the  wanderings  of  the  Israelites 
(ff.  99b-io4b,  14^-44) ;  and  other  scenes  from  the  Old 
Testament  appear,  not  only  like  these  in  direct  illustra- 
tion of  the  text,  but  allusively,  as  when  the  translation 
of  Elijah  is  used  to  illustrate  Ps.  xlii.  6,  or  Job  on  the 
dunghill  for  Ps.  cxiii.  7  (ff.  5ib,  154).  As  in  the  Vatican 
Bible,  Reg.  gr.  i,  and  the  Paris  Psalter,  gr.  139,  we 
so 


BYZANTINE    ILLUMINATION 

have  a  coronation  scene :  opposite  Ps.  xxi.  3  stands 
Hezekiah,  robed  like  a  Byzantine  Emperor,  on  a  shield 
upborne  by  soldiers,  while  an  angel  reaching  down  from 
heaven  sets  "a  crown  of  pure  gold  on  his  head"  (f.  21). 
Pictures  from  the  life  of  David  are  naturally  to  be  found 
throughout  the  volume  ;  including  two  charming  pages 
at  the  end  of  the  Psalms  (ff.  iSqb,  190)  which  are  filled 
with  a  consecutive  series,  Christ  sending  down  an  angel 
to  David  as  he  plays  the  flute  among  his  flocks,  David's 
colloquy  with  the  angel,  and  finally  his  being  anointed 
by  Samuel. 

The  "monastic-theological"  character  of  the  book 
comes  out  in  the  scenes  from  the  New  Testament,  the  lives 
of  saints  and  the  history  of  the  Eastern  Church,  which 
form  a  very  large  part  of  its  illumination.  The  prophetic 
element  in  the  Psalter  is  emphasized  here,  especially  in 
pictures  of  the  Gospel-story,  where  David  often  appears 
at  one  side  pointing,  as  in  the  Codex  Rossanensis,  to  the 
fulfilment  of  his  prophecy.  Many  of  the  subjects  are 
repeated  in  different  parts  of  the  book,  with  striking 
variations  in  the  treatment — a  fact  which  shows  that  the 
Byzantine  rule  of  unchanging  iconography  had  its  ex- 
ceptions. For  instance,  there  are  miniatures  of  the 
Crucifixion  on  ff.  8jb,  96,  ij2b.  In  the  second  of  these 
Christ  wears  a  loin-cloth,  in  the  two  others  the  colobium; 
in  the  first  and  second  Longinus  with  his  spear  is  on  the 
left,  but  the  right-hand  side  has  in  the  first  the  soldier 
with  the  hyssop,  in  the  second  the  Virgin  and  S.  John  ; 
in  the  third,  the  only  figures  besides  Christ  are  the 
Virgin  and  S.  John,  standing  on  the  right  and  left  re- 
spectively, and  bending  over  His  feet.  On  f.  152  is  a 
representation  of  the  Double  Communion,  inferior  in 
impressive  solemnity  and  depth  of  feeling  to  the  Codex 
Rossanensis,  but  interesting  because  of  the  figures  of 
David  and  Melchizedek,  who  stand  as  witnesses  on  either 
side.  The  Iconoclastic  Controversy  is  graphically  de- 
picted on  f.  2yb :  the  Patriarch  Nicephorus  and  his 
friend  Theodore,  abbot  of  the  Studium,  are  shown 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

supporting  an  icon,  and  again  protesting  before  the 
Emperor  Leo,  while  his  myrmidons  are  busy  destroying 
the  sacred  images.  The  book  shows  no  hint  of  the 
earlier  classical  revival,  except  in  the  somewhat  grotesque 
personifications  of  rivers  as  men  with  urns,  and  of  the 
winds  as  men  blowing  trumpets,  and  a  representation  of 
the  Sun-god  in  his  chariot  on  f.  6ib,  opposite  Ps.  1.  i. 

Some  of  the  illustrations  of  the  Theodore  Psalter  were 
drawn  from  the  lives  of  saints  ;  for  these  the  icono- 
graphy had  already  become  settled,  probably  soon  after 
the  completion  of  the  great  work  of  Simeon  Metaphrastes, 
who  flourished  under  Constantine  Porphyrogenitus 
(912-58)  and  collected  and  amplified  the  lives  of  the 
early  Christian  saints.  A  Menology,  abridged  from 
his  voluminous  compilation,  was  made  for  Basil  II 
(976-1025),  and  is  now  in  the  Vatican  Library  j1  or  rather, 
all  that  remains  of  it,  viz.  the  portion  for  the  half-year 
from  September  to  February.  It  is  a  stately  volume  of 
215  leaves,  containing  a  miniature  on  each  page,  with  the 
artist's  name  inscribed  against  it  on  the  margin.  Eight 
artists  were  employed,  including  two  (Michael  and 
Simeon)  who  are  surnamed  "  of  Blachernae "  ;  so  the 
manuscript  was  probably  executed  at  Constantinople  by 
the  leading  court  miniaturists.  It  is  certainly  one  of  the 
finest  surviving  examples  of  its  kind.  There  is  not 
much  width  of  range,  the  saints  being  usually  depicted 
either  in  the  orans  attitude,  standing  rigidly  with  uplifted 
hands,  or  else  while  undergoing  martyrdom  ;  and  despite 
the  beauty  of  much  of  the  painting,  an  effect  of  monotony 
is  produced  by  the  endless  series  of  nuns  and  bishops 
standing  before  arcaded  parapets  or  flanked  by  hills  of 
impossible  symmetry — even  the  livelier  movements  of 
the  executioners  tend  to  become  stereotyped.  All  the 

1  Cod.  Vat.  gr.  1613.  The  text,  with  Latin  translation  and  with  engravings 
of  the  miniatures,  was  published  by  Card.  A.  Albani,  Menologium  Graecorum, 
Urbino,  1727  ;  and  the  whole  manuscript  has  since  been  reproduced,  II  Menologio 
di  Basilio  //,  Turin,  1907  (vol.  viii  of  Codd.  e  Vat,  selecti).  See  too  Beissel,  Vat. 
Min.,  1893,  pi.  xvi,  New  Pal.  Soc.,  pi.  4,  and  Al  Sommo  Pont.  Leone  XIII 
omaggio  giubilare  della  Bibl.  Vat.,  1888,  pi.  i  (in  colour). 

52 


CMVTJJN  <t_ 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

in  an  interesting  and  copiously  illustrated  monograph  ;l 
and  we  need  not  do  more  than  mention  the  subject  very 
briefly  here.  The  most  striking  feature  in  Byzantine 
landscape  is  the  curiously  conventional  treatment  of  hills, 
which  are  represented  as  truncated  cones  with  smooth, 
level  table-tops,  and  with  steep,  symmetrical  and  abso- 
lutely smooth  and  arid  slopes,  often  interrupted  at  regular 
intervals  by  ledges  of  the  same  evenness  as  the  summits. 
Lower  down  are  crags  and  boulders  of  similar  form,  like 
the  stumps  of  neatly  sawn-off  tree-trunks.  There  is  a  far- 
away resemblance  to  some  basaltic  formations,  such  as 
Fingal's  Cave  or  the  Giant's  Causeway,  but  the  treatment 
is  essentially  non-naturalistic  ;  it  had  become  traditional 
before  the  end  of  the  tenth  century,  and  it  persisted,  in 
the  Eastern  Empire  and  Italy,  till  well  on  in  the  fifteenth. 
Many  of  the  compositions  of  the  Vatican  Menology 
are  reproduced,  on  a  smaller  scale  but  with  almost  equal 
delicacy  and  finish,  in  a  copy  of  the  Lives  of  Saints  for 
September,  from  Metaphrastes,  executed  about  the  end  of 
the  eleventh  century  or  beginning  of  the  twelfth.2  At  the 
head  of  each  legend  is  a  miniature,  richly  framed  in 
ornament.  One  of  these  (f.  60)  represents  the  Archangel 
Michael  turning  aside  a  torrent  from  the  church  and 
dwelling-place  of  the  devout  hermit  Archippus.3  This 
was  plainly  inspired  by  Pantoleon's  painting  in  the 
Menology ;  the  subject  seems  to  have  been  a  popular  one 
— it  occurs  on  f.  125  of  the  Theodore  Psalter.  Another 
subject,  S.  John  in  his  old  age  dictating  the  Gospel  to  his 
youthful  disciple  S.  Prochorus  (f.  iQyb),  occurs  frequently 
in  Greek  Gospel-books,  as  we  shall  see  presently.  Six  of 
the  other  headpieces  contain  scenes  from  the  saints'  lives 
and  passions,  in  series  of  four  or  five  small  medallions. 
The  remaining  fourteen  have  single  miniatures,  like  the 
two  already  mentioned.  Seven  of  them  represent  martyr- 

1  "  Die  toscanische  Landschaftsmalerei  im  xiv  und  XY  Jahrhundert,"  in  the 
Vienna  Jahrbuch>  xxi,  1900,  pp.  1-90. 

2  Brit.  Mus.,  Add.  11870. 

3  PL  v. 

54 


BYZANTINE    ILLUMINATION 

doms  ;  in  the  other  seven  the  saints  stand  upright,  some- 
times in  the  regular  orans  pose,  sometimes  holding  a  small 
cross  in  the  right  hand.1  The  backgrounds  are  in  reddish 
gold ;  the  figures,  painted  in  body-colour  and  highly 
finished,  are  long  and  slender,  the  faces  dignified  and 
pensive  in  expression,  the  draperies  carefully  shaded  and 
arranged  in  fine  folds.  This  is  Byzantine  work  of  a  high 
order;  rich  and  harmonious  in  colour,  conceived  in  the 
solemn  and  ceremonial  manner  proper  to  the  school. 
The  saints,  both  male  and  female,  are  of  ascetic  type, 
with  emaciated  frames,  contrasting  strongly  with  the 
vigorous  muscularity  of  their  executioners.  Apart  from 
the  figures,  the  treatment  is  conventional,  as  in  the 
Vatican  Menology.  The  artist  places  his  martyrdoms 
among  impossible  hills,  his  saintly  nuns  and  confessors 
before  arcades  and  porticoes  devoid  of  perspective,  and 
prettily  but  improbably  coloured  in  red,  blue  or  green. 

The  Metaphrastes  is  the  first  of  the  manuscripts 
which  we  have  been  considering  to  show  in  a  perfect 
form  the  characteristic  conventional  ornament  of  the  By- 
zantine school.  This  ornament,  in  the  best  examples  of 
great  richness  and  beauty,  irresistibly  reminds  every  one 
who  sees  it  for  the  first  time  of  some  Oriental  pattern- 
work,  and  especially  of  Persian  carpets  or  enamels.  It  is 
generally  used  at  the  beginning  of  a  book  or  chapter, 
sometimes  forming  a  framework  or  pendant  to  a  minia- 
ture, as  here,8  but  more  often  alone,  the  miniature  (if  any) 
being  on  a  separate  page  within  a  plain  banded  frame,  as 
in  most  of  the  Gospel-books.  The  form  is  square  or 
oblong,  sometimes  with  short  depending  borders.  The 
decoration  consists  of  a  repeat-pattern  of  geometrical 
elements — circles,  lozenges,  and  quatrefoils — together 
with  strictly  conventionalized  flower  and  leaf  ornaments. 
Sometimes  the  design  is  so  close  as  to  seem  a  mere 
floriated  network ;  sometimes  it  has  a  rich  border,  and 
a  more  open  pattern  within.  The  ground  is  gold ;  the 

1  See  Warner,  Reproductions ;  i,  r,  for  one  of  the  latter  class. 

2  PI.  v. 

55 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

pattern  is  in  the  deep  blue  of  Persian  enamel,  with  myrtle- 
green  and  a  little  red.  In  later  work  pink,  light  blue, 
mauve,  and  other  secondary  shades  are  introduced ;  but 
as  a  general  rule  the  better  the  example  the  nearer  it 
keeps  to  the  original  blue-and-green  effect.  The  whole 
is  relieved  with  minute  touches  of  white,  which  become 
coarse  and  heavy  as  the  style  deteriorates.  A  really  good 
piece  of  this  ornament  is  like  nothing  so  much  as  a  fine 
Persian  praying-rug  on  a  small  scale ;  and  it  seems  likely 
that  the  idea  may  have  been  borrowed  from  the  Arabs, 
whose  civilization  was  more  or  less  in  touch  with  that  of 
Byzantium  from  the  seventh  century  onwards.  But  it 
must  be  admitted  that  a  scheme  of  decoration,  out  of 
which  that  now  in  question  might  conceivably  have  been 
evolved,  appears  at  a  still  earlier  date  in  Byzantine  archi- 
tecture, e.g.  in  the  altar-screen  and  capitals  at  the  church 
of  San  Vitale,  Ravenna.1  Obscure  though  the  origin  and 
early  development  of  this  headpiece  may  be,  its  succes- 
sive stages  of  decadence  may  easily  be  seen  from  the 
long  series  of  Gospel-books  to  be  considered  presently. 

Byzantine  miniature  was  at  its  prime  in  the  tenth 
century — the  age  of  the  Joshua  Roll  and  the  Paris 
Psalter ;  but  the  next  two  centuries  produced  many 
manuscripts  of  great  beauty  and  interest.  Among  these 
may  be  mentioned  the  Vatican  Homilies  of  the  monk 
Jacobus  (Cod.  Vat.  gr.  1162,  nth  cent.),  a  perfect  ex- 
ample of  the  Byzantine  conventual  manner,  and  of  addi- 
tional interest  because  its  exquisitely  finished,  if  formal, 
groups  of  saints  and  angels  can  be  compared  with  the 
laboriously  careful,  but  greatly  inferior,  copies  in  a 
twelfth  century  manuscript  at  Paris  (Bibl.  Nat.,  gr. 
I2o8).2  Another  fine  manuscript  of  the  eleventh  century 
is  the  Scala  Paradisi  of  John  Climacus  in  the  Vatican 

1  See  Venturi,  i,  fig.  76-8,  82  ;   C.  Ricci,  Jtavenna,  1902,  pp.  35-7,  40,  41. 
But  a  Moslem  derivation  is  more  probable.     See  the  illustrations  to  F.  Sarre's 
article   on   "Makam    Ali    am    Euphrat "   in    the    Berlin  Jahrbuch^   xxix,    1908, 
pp.  63-76. 

2  Beissel,  Vat.  Afin.,  pi.  15  ;  Venturi,  ii,  pp  468-75,  fig.  329-41. 

56 


BYZANTINE    ILLUMINATION 

(gr.  394),1  setting  forth  the  toilsome  ascent  of  the  spiritual 
ladder  by  means  of  allegorical  miniatures  and  drawings, 
delicately  executed  in  a  manner  somewhat  resembling 
that  of  the  Metaphrastes.  Other  copies  of  this  treatise 
are  extant,  with  independent  but  inferior  illustrations.2 

The  so-called  Melissenda  Psalter  in  the  British 
Museum3  exemplifies  the  strange  mingling  of  East  and 
West  brought  about  by  the  Crusades.  Unlike  the  other 
manuscripts  considered  in  this  chapter,  it  is  written  in 
Latin,  and  its  small,  finely  formed  minuscules  bespeak  a 
Prankish  scribe  of  no  mean  skill.  The  Calendar-orna- 
ments too,  consisting  of  the  signs  of  the  zodiac  painted 
on  gold  grounds  in  small  medallions,  are  Western  in 
character ;  and  so  are  the  elaborate  decorative  initials  at 
the  beginning  and  principal  divisions  of  the  Psalter. 
But  the  miniatures,  while  purely  Byzantine  in  icono- 
graphy, are  curiously  un-Byzantine  in  colouring.  The 
book  is  generally  supposed  to  have  been  executed  for 
Melissenda,  eldest  daughter  of  Baldwin  II,  king  of 
Jerusalem,  and  of  the  Armenian  princess  Emorfia,  his 
queen.  Melissenda  was  married  in  1129  to  Fulk  of 
Anjou,  and  was  crowned  with  him  on  Baldwin's  death  in 
1131.  Throughout  Fulk's  reign  she  took  an  active  part 
in  the  government,  and  for  some  years  after  his  death  in 
1144  she  held  the  regency  for  their  young  son,  Baldwin 
III ;  she  died  at  Jerusalem  in  1161.  Her  name  does  not 
appear  anywhere  in  the  book,  but  the  Calendar  records 
the  deaths  of  her  parents  (but  not  that  of  Fulk)  and  the 
capture  of  Jerusalem  by  the  Crusaders  (July  15,  1099), 
and  the  prayers  contain  many  phrases  which  tend  to 
show  that  the  book  was  written  in  the  Holy  City.  More- 
over, its  sumptuous  appearance,  in  binding  enriched 
with  beautiful  ivory  carvings  and  studded  with  turquoises 

1  Beissel,  pi.  14;  Venturi  ii,  pp.  478-85,  fig.  343-4;  Pal.  Soc.,  i,  155. 

2  See  Tikkanen  in  Ada  Societatis  Stientiarum  Fennicac,  xix,  1893,  No.  2. 

3  Eg.  1139.     See  New  Pal.  Soc.,  pi.  140;  Warner,  Reproductions >  iii,  6.     All 
the  illuminations  have  been  reproduced  in  colour,  but  not  satisfactorily,  by  A. 
Du  Sommerard,  Les  Arts  au  MoyenAge,  1838-46,  Album,  ser.  8,  pi.  12-16. 

57 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

and  rubies,  makes  it  fully  worthy  of  a  royal  patron.  So 
we  will  not  dispute  its  traditional  association  with  Queen 
Melissenda's  name ;  but  it  contains  some  phrases  which 
suggest  that  it  was  intended,  not  for  her  own  use,  but  for 
presentation  to  some  lady  in  a  religious  house — perhaps 
her  youngest  sister  Iveta,  a  nun  at  S.  Anne's,  afterwards 
Abbess  of  the  nunnery  of  S.  Lazarus  at  Bethany,  which 
was  founded  and  richly  endowed  by  Melissenda  herself.1 

The  book  contains  twenty-four  full-page  miniatures  of 
the  life  of  Christ  at  the  beginning,  and  nine  half-page 
miniatures  of  saints  towards  the  end,  all  on  gold  grounds. 
The  latter  series  is  plainly  the  work  of  the  Western 
(probably  French)  artist  who  painted  the  zodiac-medal- 
lions in  the  Calendar.  He  has  faithfully  copied  the  stiff 
and  formal  designs  of  a  Byzantine  menology  of  traditional 
type,  but  has  completely  altered  the  effect  by  the  use  of 
brighter,  less  sombre  colours,  by  greater  freedom  and 
naturalism  in  flesh-tints  and  draperies,  and  above  all  by 
his  delicate  and  skilful  treatment  of  the  faces,  imparting 
to  them  an  animation,  in  some  cases  even  a  touch  of 
coquetry,  quite  alien  to  the  spirit  of  Byzantine  hagio- 
graphical  art. 

The  scenes  from  the  life  of  Christ  are  painted  in  a 
very  different  manner ;  they  are  by  an  artist  whose  signa- 
ture, "  Basilius  me  fecit,"  appears  in  uncial  lettering  on 
the  last  of  the  series.  The  name  is  Greek,  and  the  com- 
positions agree  exactly  with  the  established  Byzantine 
traditions ;  but  the  attenuated,  ill-modelled  figures  with 
impossibly  long  necks,  the  sullen,  peevish  faces,  and 
especially  the  rich  but  unpleasantly  vivid  and  unhar- 
monized  colouring,  mark  the  presence  of  some  other 
influence.  If  one  compares  these  paintings  with  the 
corresponding  scenes  in  a  typical  Byzantine  manuscript 
of  the  same  period,  such  as  Harl.  1810,  one  is  struck  by 
the  difference  in  treatment  almost  as  much  as  by  the 
similarity  in  design.  The  deep  ultramarine  of  the  Melis- 
senda book  looks  rich  and  warm  beside  the  leaden  blue  of 

1  See  R.  Rohricht,  Geschichtt  des  Kont^reichs  Jerusalem,  1898,  p.  228. 
58 


BYZANTINE    ILLUMINATION 

the  Harleian  MS.,  but  its  effect  is  constantly  marred  by 
the  juxtaposition  of  ill-matched  shades  of  crimson,  green, 
and — most  discordant  note  of  all — a  harsh  magenta.  The 
local  colours  are  often  quite  arbitrary,  e.g.  in  the  picture 
of  the  Magi  following  their  angel-guide  the  ground  is 
magenta,  and  the  hair  and  beard  of  one  Mage  are,  like 
his  horse,  of  a  pale  bluish  green — a  colour  which  also 
does  duty  for  the  ass  ridden  by  Christ  in  the  Entry 
into  Jerusalem.  The  artist  exaggerates  the  hard,  dry 
manner  which  was  one  of  the  worst  faults  of  the  later 
Byzantine  school ;  his  scenes  seem  as  if  cut  out  against 
the  gold  background,  without  a  hint  of  perspective.  Little 
attempt  is  made  to  vary  the  types,  or  to  depict  facial 
expression ;  and  the  draperies  are  so  treated  as  to  give 
the  effect  of  some  hard  substance,  striped  with  fine  lines, 
rather  than  of  folded  stuffs.  The  proportions  are  often 
absurd,  as  in  the  Raising  of  Lazarus,  where  the  kneeling 
sisters  and  the  men  removing  the  sepulchre  door,  though 
all  in  the  foreground,  are  mere  pygmies ;  or  in  the  Entry 
into  Jerusalem,  where  the  figure  of  Christ  is  dwarfed  by 
the  tall  disciples — the  ass  too  is  of  diminutive  size,  and  is 
grotesquely  represented  as  walking  on  air  high  above  the 
ground. 

Despite  these  shortcomings,  however,  the  Melissenda 
book  has  much  beauty,  besides  a  well-nigh  unique  interest 
as  a  monument  of  one  of  the  most  picturesque  episodes 
in  the  Middle  Ages.  Its  pages  glow  as  brightly  now  as 
when  they  were  first  painted,  with  none  of  the  flaking-off 
that  disfigures  so  many  Byzantine  miniatures.  The 
pictures  of  the  life  of  Christ  form  an  unusually  complete 
series,  of  great  value  for  the  study  of  iconographical 
details.  Here,  for  instance,  the  Baptism-scene,  unlike 
that  in  the  contemporary  Harl.  1810  (f.  95),  still  preserves 
the  personification  of  Jordan,  but  shrunk  to  puny  dimen- 
sions. The  Harrowing  of  Hell1  is  represented  in  the 
symmetrical  form  long  established  in  Byzantine  tradition  : 
Christ  in  the  centre,  beneath  His  feet  the  broken  doors  of 

1  PL  vi. 

59 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

the  tomb ;  in  the  left  hand  He  holds  a  cross,  with  the 
right  He  raises  Adam  from  the  grave  ;  Eve  stands  behind 
Adam,  waiting  her  turn ;  on  the  right-hand  side  of  the 
picture,  balancing  Adam  and  Eve,  is  a  group  of  patriarchs 
headed  by  David  and  Solomon ;  two  angels  hover  above 
Christ,  to  right  and  left,  bearing  standards  inscribed  "SSS" 
(Sanctus,  Sanctus,  Sanctus).  This  last  detail  seems  to  be 
rare ;  but  the  main  outlines  of  composition  stamp  the 
miniature  as  one  of  a  large  family,  other  members  of 
which  are  in  Harl.  1810  (f.  2o6b)1  and  a  Gospel-book 
dated  1128-9  in  the  Vatican.2  The  Ascension  is  repre- 
sented by  a  still  more  symmetrical  composition  : 3  Christ 
enthroned,  within  a  circular  mandorla,  is  borne  heaven- 
wards by  four  angels ;  below,  the  central  figure  is  the 
Virgin,  and  on  each  side  of  her  stands  an  angel  addressing 
a  group  of  disciples.  Again  an  almost  exact  counterpart, 
as  regards  design,  is  to  be  found  in  Harl.  1810  (f.  I35b).* 
As  a  rule,  the  decoration  of  Greek  Gospel-books  is 
restricted  to  portraits  of  the  Evangelists  and  head- 
pieces prefixed  to  the  Gospels,  sometimes  with  arcades 
for  the  Eusebian  canons  and  ornamental  initials.  The 
two  manuscripts,  which  we  have  mentioned  in  discussing 
the  Melissenda  book,  are  exceptional  in  containing  some 
additional  miniatures.  Besides  the  four  Evangelist- 
portraits  and  a  painting5  of  Christ  blessing  the  Em- 
perors Alexius  and  John  Comnenus,  the  Vatican  MS., 
Urbino-Vat.  gr.  2,  which  was  executed  in  1128-9,  appar- 
ently for  John  Comnenus,  has  four  full-page  miniatures, 
one  before  each  Gospel,  viz.  the  Nativity,  Baptism, 
Birth  of  S.  John  the  Baptist,6  and  Harrowing  of  Hell. 
There  is  far  greater  wealth  of  illustration  in  the  Harleian 
MS.  1810,  also  of  the  twelfth  century.  Inserted  in  the 

1  Reproduced,  with  other  illustrations  of  the  subject,  by  G.  McN.  Rushforth 
in  Papers  of  the  British  School  at  Rome^  i,  1902,  pp.  114-19. 

'2  Cod.  Urbino-Vat.  gr.  2,  f.  26ob,  reproduced  in  New  Pal  Soc.,  pi.  106. 

3  Warner,  Reproductions ;  iii,  6. 

4  Ibid.,  i,  2. 

5  Venturi,  ii,  fig.  342. 

6  Beissel,  Vat.  Mtn.,  pi.  14. 

60 


PLATE  VI 


PSALTER  OF  MELISSENDA,  QUEEN  OF  JERUSALEM.  BYZANTINE,  1I3M4 

BRIT.    MUS.    HOKRTON    1139 


BYZANTINE    ILLUMINATION 

on  which  portraits  of  the  Evangelists  inscribed  in  Greek 
("  O  agios  M attheus,"  etc.)  are  combined  with  the  em- 
blems, the  latter  inscribed  in  Latin  ("  imago  hominis," 

etc.).1 

After  this  digression,  let  us  return  to  the  Byzantine 
type,  which  is  amply  represented  in  Eastern  monastic 
libraries,  as  well  as  in  the  Vatican,2  the  Imperial  Library 
at  Vienna,8  the  British  Museum,  and  other  great  European 
collections  of  manuscripts.  In  point  of  artistic  excel- 
lence the  highest  level,  as  with  Byzantine  miniatures  in 
general,  is  reached  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries, 
and  from  the  closing  years  of  the  twelfth  century  the 
deterioration  becomes  rapid  and  complete.  As  to  the 
broad  outlines  of  composition  there  is  a  conservatism 
verging  on  monotony,  though  the  details  vary  in  a  way 
calculated  at  once  to  delight  and  perplex  the  archae- 
ologist— and  that  not  only  from  one  manuscript  to  another, 
but  from  page  to  page  within  the  same  volume.  The 
ground  is  almost  invariably  gold — but  occasionally  blue, 
as  in  a  twelfth  century  MS.  in  the  British  Museum.4  In 
some  cases  the  backgrounds  are  more  or  less  filled  with 
buildings,  in  others  they  are  quite  plain.  Landscape  is 
restricted  to  one  subject,  S.  John  dictating  to  S.  Pro- 
chorus,  and  is  of  the  peculiar  character  already  described. 
The  Evangelists  are  always  at  work  on  their  respective 
Gospels ;  the  first  three  seated,  and  engaged  in  the  actual 
writing,  usually  with  an  exemplar  on  a  stand  to  copy 
from.  For  S.  John  two  different  compositions  were 
recognized.  In  one,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  Metaphrastes, 
he  stands  dictating  to  S.  Prochorus,  and  at  the  same  time 
looking  heavenward  for  inspiration,  which  is  symbolized 
by  a  hand  issuing  from  part  of  a  disc ;  this  device  also 
appears  in  the  other  type,  where  he  sits  alone  writing. 
The  cast  of  countenance  is  usually  grave,  thoughtful, 

1  For  a  fuller  discussion  of  this  question  see  Burlington  Mag.,  xiii,  162. 
"  Beissel,  Vat.  Min.,  pp.  16-19,  pi.  ix-xi. 
3  Jarhbuch,  xxi,  pi.  i-v. 
*  Add.  4949. 

63 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

ascetic,  especially  in  the  earlier  manuscripts,  with  bulging, 
wrinkled  forehead  and  prominent  chin.  A  good  example 
is  the  portrait  of  S.  Mark1  in  Burney  19,  a  manuscript 
of  the  eleventh  century,  formerly  in  the  Escurial  Library. 
S.  Matthew  is  always  an  old  man,  with  white  hair  and 
beard.  S.  Mark  is  much  younger,  dark  haired,  some- 
times of  a  strikingly  Semitic  type,  e.g.  in  Add.  4949  and 
22740,  both  of  the  twelfth  century.  S.  Luke  is  a  young 
man  in  his  prime,  fair,  with  good  features  of  Greek  type, 
and  slight  pointed  beard ;  sometimes  tonsured,  as  in 
Burney  19,  Add.  4949,  and  Burney  20  (dated  1285).  In 
Add.  22736,  dated  1179,  both  he  and  S.  John  have  almost 
girlish  faces.  But  the  latter  is  generally  depicted  as  an 
old  man,  with  long  white  beard  and  bald  head,  the  fore- 
head very  large  and  dome-shaped.  The  accessories  are, 
as  we  have  said,  of  great  interest  for  the  student  of 
archaeology,  but  too  full  of  fanciful  variations  to  afford 
him  very  secure  data.  For  instance,  the  exemplar  is  of 
scroll  or  codex  form  according  to  the  painter's  fancy  for 
the  moment ;  and  the  form  of  the  transcript  varies  equally 
but  quite  independently.  In  this  connection  we  may  note 
that  in  Burney  20  S.  Matthew  is  copying  or  translating 
from  a  roll  inscribed  in  Arabic — evidence  of  a  current 
tradition,  at  all  events,  as  to  the  original  language  of  his 
Gospel.  The  table  by  the  Evangelist's  side  is  often 
covered  with  a  complete  outfit  of  writing  implements  : 
inkstand,  knife,  scissors,  compasses,  sponge, 'etc.  The 
devices  for  adjusting  the  book-rest ;  the  patterns  of  chair, 
table,  and  other  pieces  of  furniture ;  the  hanging  lamp 
suspended  over  S.  Luke's  table  in  Add.  28815  (tenth 
century) — these  are  a  few  of  the  many  points  worth 
notice. 

Enough  has  been  said  as  to  the  headpiece  decoration, 
which  adorns  the  beginning  of  each  Gospel  in  these 
manuscripts.  But  there  is  another  feature  which  must 
not  be  ignored,  viz.  the  initial-ornament,  in  which  some 
of  the  earlier  manuscripts  are  rich.  One  of  the  best  in 

1  PL  iv. 
64 


BYZANTINE    ILLUMINATION 

this  respect  is  Arundel  547,  an  Evangelistarium  or 
Gospel-lectionary,  written  in  Slavonic  uncials  early  in 
the  tenth  century.  Its  initials  are  of  the  type  usually 
called  Lombardic,  and  abound  in  variety  and  humour : 
fishes,  birds,  human  limbs,  human  trunks  without  limbs, 
pitchers — these  and  many  other  objects  are  combined  in 
all  sorts  of  fantastic  ways.  It  is  worth  remarking  that 
similar  initials  occur  in  an  Evangelistarium l  written  at 
Capua  in  991  by  a  Sicilian  monk,  and  in  a  copy  of  the 
Gospels2  written  in  1023,  probably  in  Southern  Italy; 
but  they  are  also  found  in  manuscripts  of  the  tenth  and 
eleventh  centuries  on  Mount  Sinai,3  and  are  probably  of 
Eastern  origin. 

To  conclude  this  chapter,  we  cannot  refrain  (even  at 
the  risk  of  irrelevance)  from  mentioning  a  copy  of  the 
Greek  Gospels*  written  at  Rome  in  1478  for  Cardinal 
Francesco  Gonzaga  by  a  Cretan  priest  named  John.  The 
illuminations  are  unmistakably  the  work  of  an  Italian 
artist ;  but  while  his  miniatures  of  the  Evangelists,  and 
the  charming  headpieces  which  he  has  prefixed  (following 
the  Byzantine  custom)  to  the  Gospels,  are  thoroughly 
Italian  in  style,  the  single  figures  and  small  groups 
painted  on  some  of  the  margins  recall  such  manuscripts 
as  the  Theodore  Psalter,  and  were  plainly  copied  from 
Byzantine  models. 

1  Cod.  "tat.  gr.  2138.    See  Pal.  Soc.,  ii,  87. 

2  Milan,  Bibl.  Ambros.  B.  56  Sup.     See  Pal.  Soc.,  i,  130. 

3  Munoz,  L'art  byzantin  a  f  exposition  de  Grotto) fcrratat  1906,  fig.  56. 

4  Brit.  Mus.,  Harl.  5790. 


CHAPTER   IV 
CELTIC  ILLUMINATION 

HAVING  sketched  the  development  and  subse- 
quent decay  of  Byzantine  illumination,  we  now 
turn  from  the  extreme  east  to  the  extreme  west 
of  Europe,  and  follow,  so  far  as  existing  materials  will 
allow  us,  the  history  of  a  counter-movement  which  took 
its  rise  in  the  Irish  monasteries  at  an  early  period — 
possibly  even  before  the  end  of  the  fifth  century ;  and 
which,  spreading  thence  to  Great  Britain  and  the  Conti- 
nent, combined  with  Byzantine  and  other  influences  to 
form  the  decorative  system  which  obtained  in  Europe  from 
the  ninth  century  to  the  twelfth. 

The  great  characteristic  of  Celtic  illumination  is  a 
complete  disregard  for  realism  and  an  impassioned  under- 
standing of  conventional  ornament.  It  is,  indeed,  by  the 
use  that  it  makes  of  decorative  elements  that  the  exact 
limitations  of  the  school  are  fixed.  The  Classical  style 
was  entirely,  the  Byzantine  mainly,  pictorial ;  the  Celtic 
is  purely  ornamental.  In  its  disposition  of  lines  and 
masses,  its  dexterous  manipulation  of  a  few  forms  and 
colours  to  form  patterns  of  endless  variety,  it  has  never 
been  surpassed.  Another  marked  feature  of  the  school 
is  the  adaptation  of  decorative  motives  which  belong 
primarily  and  properly  to  work  in  three  dimensions — to 
the  allied,  yet  essentially  distinct,  arts  of  basketry,  metal- 
work,  and  sculpture.  Some  purists  object  to  this  as  a 
blemish  ;  but  we  find  it  difficult  to  accept  their  strictures 
when  feasting  our  eyes  on  the  exquisite  beauty  of  some  of 
the  pages  in  such  books  as  those  of  Kells,  Lindisfarne,  or 
Lichfield. 

The  art  of  writing  was  probably  introduced  into  Ireland, 
as  a  concomitant  of  Christianity,  early  in  the  fifth  century; 
66 


PLATE  VII 


GOSPELS  fBOOK   OF   KELLSJ.    IRISH,    VIIrH   CENT 


DUBLIN,    TRIN.    COLL. 


CELTIC    ILLUMINATION 

In  the  disposition  of  this  mass  of  decoration,  the  Irish 
monks  showed  themselves  to  be  great  artists  as  well  as 
expert  craftsmen.  They  used  their  ornament  in  three 
ways.  First,  as  rich  frames  enclosing  full-page  figure- 
subjects.  Secondly,  to  enrich  the  opening  pages  of  the 
Gospels,  or  other  specially  important  parts  of  the  text. 
Thirdly,  for  the  complete  pages  of  conventional  decoration, 
often  full  of  their  peculiar  symbolism,  and  usually  having 
as  foundation  an  elaborate  cruciform  design,  which  were 
generally  prefixed  to  the  Gospels  and  Psalms.  In  each 
case,  the  fundamental  plan  was  much  the  same.  Frames, 
capitals,  or  decorative  pages  were  cut  into  variously  shaped 
panels  by  flat  ribbons,  sometimes  plaited  at  the  corners, 
or  bent  to  receive  knotted  and  lacertine  terminals.  These 
panels  were  then  filled  with  all-over  patterns  of  one  of  the 
elements  above  described,  so  disposed  as  to  give  at  once 
an  impression  of  great  variety  and  perfect  harmony.  In 
the  best  Irish  manuscripts,  such  as  the  Book  of  Kells, 
every  panel  turns  out  on  examination  to  be  different,  even 
plaits  and  knots  being  slightly  varied.  Nor  did  the 
artists  rest  content  with  the  labour  of  producing  their 
great  cruciform  and  strap-work  designs ;  they  also  made 
their  pages  of  script  splendid  by  the  huge  plaited  initials, 
ending  often  in  swans'  heads,  eagles,  or  human  grotesques, 
and  by  the  wealth  of  dotted  work,  spirals,  and  lacertines 
which  filled  the  ground  between  and  about  the  lines  of 
text.  The  draughtsmanship  is  extraordinary,  the  most 
intricate  enlacements  and  spirals,  and  the  delicate  open- 
work patterns  which  recall  "  drawn  thread  "  work,  being 
faultlessly  executed  in  firm  and  accurate  outline.  The 
pattern  thus  made  was  then  coloured,  always  in  small 
detached  patches,  like  champleve'  enamel-work.  There 
are  no  washes,  broad  masses,  blendings  of  tone ;  every- 
thing is  flat  and  definite.  The  range  of  colours  was  not 
large ;  often  only  red  and  yellow  are  used,  in  addition  to 
the  lustrous  black  ink.  In  manuscripts  of  greater  im- 
portance green,  violet,  and  brown  are  added ;  and 
finally,  in  a  few  books,  blue,  the  rarest  and  most 

69 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

beautiful  of  the  colours  which  the  Irish  painter  had  at 
his  disposal. 

It  only  remains  to  mention  the  figure-subjects,  usually 
portraits  of  the  Evangelists,  occasionally  a  few  scriptural 
scenes  also,  which  the  Celtic  illuminators  unfortunately 
felt  it  necessary  to  introduce  into  their  works.  Their 
genius,  as  has  already  been  said,  was  for  pattern-weaving, 
space-filling,  symmetry ;  their  world  was  a  flat  one,  their 
art  two-dimensional.  The  result  of  applying  these  pecu- 
liarities to  the  human  figure  may  be  imagined.  Man,  as 
seen  by  the  Celtic  artist,  is  a  purely  geometrical  animal. 
His  hair  is  a  series  of  parallel  lines  or  neatly  fitted 
curves;  his  eyes,  two  discs  set  symmetrically  in  almond- 
shaped  frames ;  his  nose,  an  interesting  polygonal 
device.  His  dress,  cut  up  into  arbitrary  compart- 
ments, his  straight  toes  and  fingers,  and  his  doll- 
like  stare,  complete  an  ensemble  which  may  be  suc- 
cessful as  a  decorative  pattern,  but  has  no  relation  to 
real  life. 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  uncertainty  as  to  the  dates  of 
most  of  the  extant  examples  of  early  Celtic  illumination  ; 
fixed  points  are  few,  experts'  judgments  are  many  and 
various.  So  the  order  adopted  in  the  following  notes  of 
individual  manuscripts  cannot  claim  finality  as  a  precise 
chronological  arrangement.  A  fixed  point  of  great  value 
is  supplied  by  the  Durham  Book,  which  was  written 
(according  to  a  tradition  recorded  in  the  tenth  century  and 
accepted  without  dispute)  at  Lindisfarne,  in  Northumber- 
land, between  687  and  721.  The  monastery  at  Lindis- 
farne had  been  founded  by  S.  Aidan,  from  lona,  early 
in  the  seventh  century;  and  the  fully  developed  style 
and  technical  perfection  of  the  purely  Celtic  work 
(i.e.  all  the  decorative  ornament)  in  this  book  compel 
us  to  assign  the  beginnings  of  Irish  illumination 
to  a  much  earlier  period.  But  no  actual  specimens 
exist,  probably,  of  greater  antiquity  than  the  seventh 
century.  B^ana 

One  of  the'earliest,  by  common  consent,  is  the  Book  of 
70 


CELTIC    ILLUMINATION 

Durrow,1  a  copy  of  the  Latin  Gospels  now  in  the  library 
of  Trinity  College,  Dublin.  It  formerly  belonged  to 
Durrow  monastery,  in  King's  County,  founded  by  S. 
Columba  about  A.D.  553,  and  was  believed  to  have  been 
the  handiwork  of  the  saint  himself,  on  the  strength  of  a 
colophon  in  which  the  scribe  names  himself  Columba  and 
claims  to  have  written  the  whole  book  in  twelve  days. 
But  the  manifest  impossibility  of  such  a  feat  of  rapid 
calligraphy  has  led  to  the  conclusion  that  this  colophon 
was  copied  from  the  archetype,  doubtless  a  hastily  written 
and  unadorned  codex.  King  Flann  had  a  cumdach  or 
shrine  (now  lost)  made  to  enclose  the  volume,  between  the 
years  879  and  916,  when  it  was  already  regarded  as  a 
precious  relic  ;  and  we  shall  probably  not  be  far  wrong  in 
assigning  it  to  the  seventh  century.  The  ornament  con- 
sists of  five  full  pages  of  decorative  design  (one  at  the 
beginning,  and  one  prefixed  to  each  Gospel),  another  page 
with  the  four  Evangelistic  emblems,  four  more  represent- 
ing each  of  the  Evangelists  by  his  emblem,  and  elaborate 
initials  at  the  beginning  of  each  of  the  Gospels.  The  draw- 
ings of  the  emblems  are  crude,  conventional,  grotesque, 
especially  on  the  page  which  contains  all  four.2  In  fact, 
the  most  noteworthy  point  about  them  is  the  winglessness 
of  the  man,  lion,  and  calf — suggesting  an  early  date.  The 
decorative  work,  on  the  other  hand,  is  well  planned  and 
firmly  executed ;  it  lacks  the  extreme  delicacy  and  rich 
variety  which  we  find  in  a  few  of  the  later  manuscripts, 
but  it  is  far  from  ineffective.  The  chief  defects  are  a 
tendency  to  overcrowd  the  page  by  filling  up  all  available 
spaces  with  close-set  strap-work  or  tartan  patterns  of 
lozenges  or  squares,  and  a  monotonous  effect  produced  by 

1  J.  O.  Westwood,  Facsimiles  of  the  Miniatures  and  Ornaments  of  Anglo-Saxon 
and  Irish  MSS.,  1868,  pp.  20-5,  pi.  4-7;  National  MSS.  of  Ireland,  ed.  J.  T. 
Gilbert,  i,  1874,  pp.  viii-ix,  pi.  5,  6;  J.  A.  Bruun,  Celtic  Illuminated  MSS.,  1897, 
PP-  45~7i  pi.  i,  2  ;  S.  F.  H.  Robinson,  Celtic  Illuminative  Art,  1908,  pp.  xix-xxi, 
pi.  1-4. 

2  Reproduced  by  Westwood,  Palaeographia  Sacra  Pictoria,  1 843-5,  at  en(^  °f 
Irish  Biblical  MSS.     All  the  other  illuminated  pages  are  given  in  colours  in  his 
Facsimiles. 

71 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

the  exact  symmetry  of  the  design  and  by  the  too  frequent 
repetition  on  one  page  of  the  same  device  without  any 
variation.  For  instance,  the  page  facing  the  beginning 
of  S.  Mark's  Gospel  is  filled  with  fifteen  circles  in  rows 
of  three,  connected  by  lozenges  of  trellis-work  and  filled 
with  interlaced  ribbons,  all  exactly  alike  except  the  central 
circle.  Another  page  is  given  up  almost  entirely  to 
spirals ;  another  to  rows  of  lacertines  biting  each  other. 
Perhaps  the  finest  page  is  that  of  which  the  centre  is 
occupied  by  a  sort  of  patriarchal  cross  surrounded  with  an 
elaborate  pattern  of  interlaced  ribbons  ;  the  borders  filled 
with  interlaced  circles  and  strap-work.  The  ground  of 
the  decorative  pages  is  usually  black,  that  of  the  emblem 
pages  the  plain  vellum.  The  colours  used  are  few :  red, 
yellow,  and  green  predominate,  brown  also  occurs,  and 
rarely  purple.  Red  dots  are  freely  used,  both  for  framing 
coloured  ornament  and  for  the  groundwork  of  panels  on 
which  the  letters  are  set. 

There  is  not  much  to  be  said  about  the  Book  of 
Dimma,1  another  Gospel-book  at  Dublin  (Trin.  Coll.), 
written  by  one  Dimma  Mac  Nathi,  who  is  supposed  to 
have  lived  in  the  first  half  of  the  seventh  century. 
Besides  the  initial  ornament,  which  is  much  slighter  than 
in  the  Durrow  Book,  it  contains  four  full-page  minia- 
tures, representing  the  first  three  Evangelists  and  the 
emblem  of  the  fourth,  drawn  in  outline  on  the  vellum 
ground,  and  flatly  coloured  in  segments,  enclosed  within 
frames  filled  with  the  usual  plait  and  coil  patterns  with 
zigzags,  lozenges,  and  simple  tessellated  work.  The 
execution  is  poor,  the  general  effect  mean  and  barbaric — 
perhaps  indicative  of  an  early  date. 

Celtic  illumination  must  have  developed  rapidly  during 
the  seventh  century,  for  its  close  witnessed  the  production 
of  one  of  the  two  most  perfect  existing  specimens  of  the 
school ;  and  that,  too,  not  in  Ireland  itself,  but  in  the 

1  Nat.  MSS.  Irel.,  i,  pp.  xii-xiii,  pi.  18,  19.  Westwood,  Facsimiles,  p.  83, 
Pal.  Sac.  Plct.t  Irish  Bibl.  MSS.,  pi.  ii,  i ;  Bruun,  pp.  60-1. 

72 


CELTIC    ILLUMINATION 

north  of  England.  This  is  the  famous  Durham  Book,1 
or  Lindisfarne  Gospels,  a  copy  of  the  Gospels  written 
by  Eadfrith,  Bishop  of  Lindisfarne  (698-721),  in  honour 
of  S.  Cuthbert  (d.  687) ;  such  at  any  rate  is  the  tradition 
recorded  by  Aldred,  who  added  an  interlinear  translation 
in  the  tenth  century.  Aldred  goes  on  to  credit  Ethilwald 
with  the  binding  and  Billfrith  with  the  ornamental  metal- 
work  of  the  outer  cover,  and  finally  names  himself  as 
translator,  without  saying  a  \vord  as  to  the  illuminations  ; 
so  we  may  conclude  that  they  were  done  by  Eadfrith  or 
under  his  supervision.  Strictly  speaking,  therefore,  the 
manuscript  should  be  relegated  to  the  Hiberno-Saxon 
class  at  the  end  of  this  chapter ;  but  it  seems  better  to 
discuss  it  here,  in  view  of  its  great  importance  as  a  point 
de  rep&re  in  the  history  of  Celtic  illumination.  Its  deco- 
ration consists  of  five  cruciform  pages,  four  portraits  of 
the  Evangelists,  six  pages  of  text,  and  sixteen  pages 
of  arcades  enclosing  the  Eusebian  Canons ;  besides  a 
great  wealth  of  initial  ornament  throughout  the  volume. 
Of  the  cruciform  pages  one  is  at  the  beginning  of  the 
volume,  and  one  prefixed  to  each  Gospel.  The  most 
perfect  is  that  before  S.  Matthew ;  it  consists  of  a  cross 
of  ornate  and  unusual  design,  enclosed  in  a  rectangular 
frame  and  completely  filled  and  surrounded  with  intricate 
interlacing  and  other  decorative  patterns.  The  general 
scheme  in  the  others  is  the  same,  but  only  that  which 
precedes  S.  John's  Gospel  approaches  it  in  beauty ;  the 
other  three  are  more  rectilinear  in  design,  and  produce  a 
much  less  pleasing  and  interesting  effect.  The  first  page 
of  each  of  the  Gospels  and  of  S.  Jerome's  Epistle  to 
Damasus  is  profusely  decorated,  and  so  is  the  page  be- 
ginning with  the  words:  "Christi  autem  generatio" 
(Matt.  i.  1 8).  Perhaps  the  finest  of  these  text-pages  is 

1  Brit.  Mus.,  Nero  D.  iv.  For  descriptions  and  partial  reproductions  see 
Warner,  Illuminated  MSS.,  pl.  i,  2,  and  Reproductions,  iii,  i,  2  ;  Cat.  Atu.  MSS.t 
ii,  pp.  15-18,  pi.  8-1 1 ;  Pal.  Soc.,  i,  3-6,  22 ;  Sir  E.  M.  Thompson,  Eng.  III.  MSS., 
l%95>  PP-  4-iOj  pl-  ij  Westwood,  Facsimiles,  pp.  33-9,  pi.  12,  13;  Robinson, 
pp.  xxii-xxiv,  pl.  5-10;  Bruun,  pp.  48-60,  pl.  3. 

73 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

that  on  which  S.  Luke's  Gospel  begins.1  The  general 
plan  is  the  same  in  all :  the  text  enclosed  in  a  frame- 
border  filled  with  interlaced  work,  spirals,  long-necked 
birds,  and  other  devices,  and  having  the  initial  letter  itself 
for  the  left-hand  side ;  the  initial,  and  usually  the  next 
few  letters,  of  large  size  and  ornamental  design  and  filled 
with  decoration  like  the  border;  the  remainder  of  the 
text  smaller  and  less  elaborate,  but  adorned  with  touches 
of  colour  and  surrounded  with  patterns  of  red  dots. 
These  eleven  pages  form  the  principal  part  of  the  purely 
Celtic  illumination  in  the  book.  For  varied  intricacy  of 
design  they  are  surpassed  only  by  the  Book  of  Kells ; 
and  the  softness  and  harmony  of  the  colours,  the  skilful 
and  delicate  contrasts  of  blue,  red,  green,  yellow,  and 
purple,  brought  out  the  more  effectively  by  touches  of 
black  in  the  spaces  between  the  patterns,  are  unsurpassed 
by  any  other  manuscript  of  the  school.  The  text  is  a 
beautiful  example  of  half-uncial  writing,  in  ink  whose 
lustrous  blackness  is  perfectly  preserved,  and  is  enriched 
throughout  with  coloured  initials  of  characteristically 
Celtic  style :  spirals,  lacertines,  interlacings,  with  plenti- 
ful use  of  red  dots.  The  ornamentation  of  the  Eusebian 
Canons  is  comparatively  slight ;  but  the  delicately  tinted 
arcades,  with  pillars  and  arches  alternately  filled  with 
ornithines,  or  lacertines,  and  plaits,  charm  by  their  perfec- 
tion of  execution,  if  they  do  not  astonish  by  their  fertility 
of  design. 

All  these  are  purely  Celtic,  though  Celtic  of  a  more 
advanced  kind  than  we  have  yet  seen.  But  when  we 
come  to  the  four  full-page  portraits  of  the  Evangelists, 
the  only  examples  of  figure-drawing  in  the  book,  we 
break  at  once  with  the  Irish  tradition,  though  its  flat  and 
conventional  technique  is  still  apparent.  These  minia- 
tures are  thoroughly  Byzantine  in  design  :  the  seated 
scribes,  drawn  in  profile,  with  cushion,  desk,  and  foot- 
stool, one  with  the  ceremonial  curtain  at  his  side,  are 
obviously  descended  from  the  same  stock  as  the  portraits 

1  PI.  viii. 
74 


LINDISFARNE  GOSPELS,  CIRCA   700 

BRIT.    MUS.    NERO    D    IV 


CELTIC    ILLUMINATION 

of  MacRegol  (early  ninth  century) ;  partly  on  artistic,  for 
the  profusion,  variety,  and  perfection  of  its  decoration 
undoubtedly  point  rather  to  the  maturity  than  the  primi- 
tive ages  of  Celtic  art.  It  was  probably  executed  in  the 
Columban  monastery  of  Kells,  in  Meath,  where  it  re- 
mained, certainly  from  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh 
century,  down  to  the  dissolution  of  that  abbey  in  1541  ; 
it  afterwards  belonged  to  Archbishop  Ussher,  and  is  now 
prized  as  the  greatest  treasure  in  the  library  of  Trinity 
College,  Dublin,  having  come  there  with  the  rest  of  his 
books  in  1661.  Conjecture  has  identified  it  with  a  codex 
shown  to  Giraldus  Cambrensis  at  Kildare,  towards  the 
end  of  the  twelfth  century,  whose  illuminations  he  de- 
scribes in  a  remarkable  passage1  of  enthusiastic  appreci- 
ation ;  they  were  said,  he  tells  us,  to  have  been  produced 
under  the  direction  of  an  angel  at  the  prayers  of  S. 
Bridget.  But  perhaps  it  is  more  natural  to  suppose  that 
this  was  another  example  of  a  class  now  represented  only 
by  the  Book  of  Kells. 

More  fully  decorated  than  any  other  extant  manu- 
script of  its  school,  the  Book  of  Kells  forms  a  sort  of 
compendium  of  Irish  art :  possessing — besides  arcaded 
Canon-tables,  portraits  of  Evangelists,  numerous  decora- 
tive pages  and  magnificent  initials — full-page  miniatures 
of  the  Temptation  of  Christ,  His  seizure  by  the  Jews, 
and  the  Madonna  and  Child,  which  are  unique  in  the 
history  of  Celtic  painting.  Historically  interesting,  how- 
ever, these  pages  possess  all  the  artistic  vices  of  their 
school.  The  Madonna  and  Child,  surrounded  by  four 
small  angels  with  censers,  and  placed  in  an  elaborately 
ornamented  frame,  seems  like  a  caricature  of  some  early 
Byzantine  painting.  It  is  solemn,  but  inept.  Nothing 
could  be  less  lifelike  or  more  hideous  than  this  Infant 
Christ,  not  even  the  large-headed,  stony-eyed  Madonna. 
But  the  beautifully  jewelled  wings  of  the  angels,  the  soft 
bright  colours,  the  woven  patterns  of  the  accessories,  the 
clever  space-filling,  nearly  succeed  in  turning  what  is 

1  Topographia  Hibernica,  ii,  38-9  (Opera,  v,  123). 

77 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

really  an  ugly  picture  into  an  interesting,  even  pleasing 
design.  Better  in  every  way  is  the  miniature  of  the 
seizure  of  Christ.  Here  the  artist,  in  spite  of  crude 
drawing  and  bad  anatomy,  has  actually  managed  to  con- 
vey the  idea  of  unresistant  suffering  on  the  one  hand, 
of  malicious  energy  on  the  other. 

But  perhaps  the  best  things  in  all  three  pictures  are 
the  figures  of  angels  with  wings  outspread,  which  also 
appear  with  beautiful  effect  on  many  of  the  pages  of 
lettering.  Poor  as  to  facial  expression,  they  yet  suggest 
something  of  mysterious  dignity  by  the  great  sweep  of 
those  straight  and  jewelled  pinions,  which  give  majesty 
even  to  the  slightly  grotesque  symbols  of  the  Evangelists, 
thrice  represented1  between  the  arms  of  the  mystical 
cross.  These  winged  figures  have  a  look  which  is 
magical,  remote,  profoundly  un-European,  reminiscent, 
indeed,  of  the  deities  of  ancient  Assyrian  or  Egyptian 
art.  This  feature  of  the  Book  of  Kells  and  its  congeners, 
together  with  the  peculiar  flamingo-like  character  of  the 
lacertine  birds,  has  led  some  writers  to  claim  for  Irish  art 
an  Egyptian  inspiration.2  In  support  of  this  claim  it 
has  been  remarked  that  the  earliest  Irish  monasteries 
were  built  on  the  same  plan  as  those  of  the  Egyptian 
hermits ;  and  a  piece  of  direct  evidence  is  adduced  from 
the  Leabhar  Breac,  which  mentions,  among  other  foreign 
ecclesiastics  buried  in  Ireland,  "  Septem  monachos 
Aegyptios  qui  jacent  in  Disert-Ulidh."  It  has  even  been 
maintained  that  the  conversion  of  Ireland  was  due  to 
Coptic  missionaries  ;  but  this  cannot  be  regarded  as  any- 
thing more  than  conjecture.  It  is  clear,  however,  that 
Irish  ornament,  whatever  its  origin,  is  not  in  its  entirety 
a  native  product.  Its  plaits  and  knots  are  European  in 
their  distribution,  and  seem  always  to  occur  at  a  certain 
stage  of  primitive  art.  Its  spirals  are  found  on  British 
shields  of  the  second  century  (not  to  mention  Cretan 
decoration  of  a  much  earlier  period) ;  its  key  and  tessel- 

1  One  of  these  representations  is  our  pi.  vii. 

2  See  Keller,  pp.  74,  79-81  (Reeves's  translation,  pp.  225,  229-30). 

78 


CELTIC    ILLUMINATION 

lated  patterns  seem  relics  of  classic  design.  It  is  in 
execution  and  combination,  not  in  invention,  that  the 
Irish  illuminator  excels. 

In  the  ornament  pages  of  the  Book  of  Kells,  and 
especially  in  the  great  designs  of  mingled  lettering  and 
decoration  prefixed  to  each  Gospel,  his  taste  and  dexterity 
are  seen  at  their  best.  S.  Matthew  alone  has  six  such 
pages,  culminating  in  the  superb  illumination  of  the 
monogram  "  XPI,"  on  which,  as  Miss  Stokes  has  well  said, 
"  is  lavished,  with  all  the  fervent  devotion  of  the  Irish 
scribe,  every  variety  of  design  to  be  found  in  Celtic  art, 
so  that  the  name  which  is  the  epitome  of  his  faith  is  also 
the  epitome  of  his  country's  art." 

But  the  Book  of  Kells  is  unique ;  not  even  the 
Durham  Book  can  be  compared  with  it  for  richness  and 
variety,  and  no  other  extant  manuscript  of  the  school  is 
worthy  to  be  mentioned  in  the  same  breath.  The  style 
was  here  being  used  by  a  supreme  artist ;  its  usual 
interpreter  was  only  a  respectable  craftsman  at  best.  Of 
the  remaining  Irish  manuscripts,  perhaps  the  most  im- 
portant is  the  Gospels  of  Mac  Regol,1  in  the  Bodleian 
Library  at  Oxford,  sometimes  called  the  Rushworth 
Gospels  from  its  donor,  John  Rushworth  the  historian. 
Its  scribe,  Mac  Regol,  has  been  identified  with  an  Abbot 
of  Birr,  in  Queen's  County,  who  died  in  820  ;  and  though 
this  identification  cannot  be  regarded  as  certain,  it 
probably  indicates  the  date  of  the  manuscript  correctly. 
The  decoration  is  rich,  but  coarsely  and  unevenly 
executed;  it  consists  of  an  elaborate  page  of  lettering  at 
the  beginning  of  each  Gospel,  and  portraits  of  SS.  Mark, 
Luke,  and  John  in  highly  decorated  frames.  The  chief 
colours  are  brick-red  and  yellow,  but  green  and  dull 
purple  are  also  used.  There  is  no  blue  or  pale  violet. 
Most  of  the  ornament  is  made  up  of  plaits,  spirals, 
lacertines,  and  open  reticulated  patterns.  The  strange 
women's  faces  seen  on  some  pages  of  the  Book  of  Kells 

1  Westwood,  Facsimiles,  pp.  53-6,  pi.  16 ;  Nat.  MSS.  IreL,  p.  xiii,  pi.  22-4  ; 
PaL  Soc.)  i,  90,  91. 

79 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

appear  again,  as  well  as  the  semi-human  lacertines,  their 
hair  prolonged  into  plaits  and  spirals.  The  symbols 
of  the  Evangelists,  which  stand  above  their  portraits,  are 
covered  with  bright-coloured  tartans,  recalling  the  Book 
of  Durrow.  The  Evangelists  themselves  are,  as  usual, 
quite  conventional  in  drawing.  Drapery  is  represented 
by  a  series  of  rather  turbulent  diagonal  stripes,  faces  are 
flat  and  geometrical,  perspective  does  not  exist.  Still, 
the  book  is  of  great  value  as  representing,  presumably, 
the  average  work  of  the  period  when  Celtic  art  reached  its 
culminating  point  in  the  Book  of  Kells.  It  is,  at  any 
rate,  immeasurably  superior,  both  in  taste  and  execution, 
to  most  of  its  successors. 

One  of  the  best  of  these  is  the  Gospel-book  at 
Lambeth,1  written  for  (or  perhaps  by)  Maelbrigte  Mac 
Durnan,  who  was  Abbot  of  Armagh  and  Raphoe,  and 
afterwards  of  lona,  and  who  died  in  927.  It  is  a  small 
volume,  written  in  minuscules,  and  adorned  with  four 
full-page  portraits  of  the  Evangelists  and  a  cruciform 
page  containing  their  emblems,  as  well  as  decorative  text- 
pages  at  the  beginning  of  each  Gospel  and  at  the  words 
"Christi  autem  generatio."  The  colouring  is  on  the 
whole  delicate  and  pleasing,  including  bright  red,  a 
beautiful  violet,  two  shades  of  green,  and  buff ;  and  the 
ornamental  work  is  rich  and  varied.  But  the  figure- 
drawing  is  impossible,  and  the  drapery  still  more  so, 
appearing  in  a  series  of  strange  curvilinear  folds.  The 
four  emblems  are  exceedingly  weird,  drawn  in  fantastic 
shapes,  only  just  distinguishable  by  their  heads,  and 
coloured  on  the  patchy,  enamel-like  system  so  often  found 
in  Celtic  painting.  An  unpleasing  peculiarity  of  the 
manuscript  is  the  use  of  a  heavy  white  body-colour  for 
the  faces,  hands,  and  other  parts  of  the  figure,  which  are 
usually  only  drawn  in  outline  on  the  vellum.  The  artist's 
passion  for  symbolism  has  led  him  to  provide  S.  Luke 

1  S.  W.  Kershaw,  Art  Treasures  of  the  Lambeth  Library,  1873,  PP-  27~9  '•> 
Westwood,  Facsimiles,  pp.  68-72,  pi.  22,  and  in  Archaeol.  Journ,,  vii,  1850, 
pp.  17-25;  Nat.  MSS.  IreL,  p.  xvii,  pi.  30,  31 ;  Bruun,  pp.  65-7,  pi.  4-6. 

80 


CELTIC    ILLUMINATION 

with  cloven  hoofs ;  but  it  is  hard  to  see  why  he  should 
have  treated  S.  Matthew1  in  the  same  way. 

In  the  library  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  are  two 
manuscripts  closely  allied  to  the  Gospels  of  Mac  Durnan, 
although  tradition  assigns  them  to  much  earlier  dates. 
These  are  the  Book  of  Armagh,2  written  (there  seems 
reason  for  supposing)  in  807,  and  the  Book  of  Mulling,8 
whose  scribe  has  been  identified  with  S.  Mulling  or 
Moling,  Bishop  of  Ferns  in  Leinster,  who  died  in  697. 
The  former  has  only  pen-and-ink  work,  but  was  evidently 
meant  to  be  fully  illuminated.  The  Evangelistic  emblems, 
which  appear  all  four  on  one  page,  between  the  arms  of  a 
cross,  as  well  as  singly,  resemble  those  of  the  Lambeth 
book  in  having  four  wings  each,  but  are  much  better 
drawn,  less  conventional,  and  more  life-like,  especially 
the  prancing  lion  and  the  eagle  with  its  talons  embedded 
in  a  fish.  The  Book  of  Mulling  has  full-page  miniatures 
of  three  of  the  Evangelists,  standing  upright  with  a  book 
in  the  left  hand  ;  the  pose  of  the  figures,  the  absurd  folds 
of  drapery,  the  dead-white  faces,  the  frame-borders  filled 
with  lacertines  and  other  ornaments,  all  strongly  resemble 
the  portrait-pages  in  the  Lambeth  book.  The  colouring, 
however,  is  less  delicate  and  more  restricted  in  range — so 
restricted,  indeed,  that  the  artist  has  found  it  necessary  to 
paint  the  hair  blue,  as  well  as  the  eyes ! 

Two  more  Irish  manuscripts  of  the  ninth  or  tenth 
century  are  just  worth  mentioning,  as  showing  the  depth 
of  barbarism  into  which  Irish  illumination  quickly  re- 
lapsed. One  of  these  is  a  Psalter  in  the  British  Museum;4 
damaged  by  fire,  but  not  to  such  an  extent  as  to  mask 
the  childish  absurdity  of  its  two  drawings — David  over- 
throwing Goliath,  and  David  playing  the  harp — or  the 
poverty  of  design  in  its  interlaced  borders  and  initials. 

1  This  curious  feature  also  occurs  in  the  Book  of  Kells.     See  Abbott,  pi.  33. 

2  Westwood,  Facsimiles,  pp.  80-2  ;  Nat.  MSS.  Ire!.,  pp.  xiv-xvii,  pi.  25-9. 

3  Westwood,  p.  93  ;  Nat.  MSS.  Ire!.,  p.  xiii,  pi.  20,  21. 

4  Vitell.  F.  xi.     See  Cat.  Anc.  MSS.t  ii,  p.  13;  Westwood,  Facsimiles,  p.  85, 
pl-  5r>  fig-  5»  6,  and  in  Archaeol.  Journ.,  vii,  pp.  23-5. 

6  8l 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

The  other  manuscript,  also  a  Psalter,  is  in  the  library  of 
S.  John's  College,  Cambridge.1  It  has  three  full-page 
miniatures,  all  extremely  crude  and  barbaric :  two  are  of 
the  victories  of  David ;  the  third  is  surely  the  most 
grotesque  representation  of  the  Crucifixion  ever  per- 
petrated in  Christian  art.  Among  other  peculiarities  are 
the  intertwining  folds  of  Christ's  draperies  (the  figure  is 
completely  clothed,  even  to  boots  and  stockings,  the 
latter  red),  the  armless  angels  with  hands  emerging 
directly  from  their  bodies,  and  the  ridiculous  little  figures 
of  Longinus  and  the  soldier. 

Illumination  continued  to  be  practised  in  Ireland 
down  to  the  thirteenth  century,  an  ugly  if  pathetic 
memorial  of  its  glorious  past.  There  are  drawings  of 
the  Evangelistic  symbols  in  two  twelfth  century  Gospel- 
books  in  the  British  Museum,  viz.  Harl.  1802  and  1023  ; 
those  in  the  former,  which  was  written  by  Maelbrigt  hua 
Maeluanaigh  at  Armagh  in  1138,  being  especially  feeble 
and  ugly.2  But  the  decorations  were  for  the  most  part 
restricted  to  interlaced  and  zoomorphic  initials  and 
borders ;  and  these  became  stereotyped  in  design,  coarse 
in  execution,  unpleasing  in  colour.8 

But  we  must  go  beyond  Ireland,  beyond  the  British 
Isles,  to  give  anything  like  a  complete  sketch,  however 
brief,  of  Celtic  illumination.  As  early  as  the  sixth 
century  a  stream  of  Irish  missionaries  began  to  pour 
forth,  who  carried  Christianity,  and  with  it  their  own 
peculiar  form  of  Christian  art,  into  Great  Britain  and 
many  parts  of  the  Continent,  notably  Switzerland,  South 
Germany,  and  Northern  Italy;  and  the  monasteries  which 
they  founded  grew  rich  in  manuscripts  written  and  illu- 
minated in  the  Irish  manner.  Not  many  of  these  have 
survived  ;  and  those  that  have  are  mostly — it  must  be 

1  MS.  C.  9.     See  Westwood,  Facsimiles,  p.  84,  pi.  30,  and  Pal.  Sac.  Pict., 
No.  18;   Burlington   Fine  Arts   Club,   Exhibition  of  Illuminated  MSS.t   1908, 
No.  3,  pi.  ii. 

2  Nat.  MSS.  Ire!.,  pp.  xx,  xxii,  pi.  40-2,  45  ;  Pa!.  Soc.,  i,  212. 

3  e.g.  see  Brit.  Mus.,  Galba  A.  v  and  Add.  36929,  two  thirteenth  century 
Psalters. 

82 


CELTIC    ILLUMINATION 

confessed—  rather  curious  than  beautiful.  This  is  em- 
phatically the  case  with  the  Book  of  Deer,  a  tenth 
century  copy  of  the  Gospels  which  belonged  to  the  mon- 
astic settlement  founded  by  S.  Columba  at  Deer,  in 
Aberdeenshire,  and  which  is  now  in  the  Cambridge 
University  Library.1  The  drawings  of  the  Evangelists, 
which  are  repeated  again  and  again  on  every  available 
space  throughout  the  volume,  are  merely  childish ;  and 
their  absurdity  is  not  counterbalanced  by  any  exceptional 
merit  in  the  initial  and  border  ornaments,  which,  though 
based  on  better  models  and  more  correctly  drawn,  do  not 
rise  above  the  simplest  forms  of  plait,  meander,  and 
tessellated  patterns.  Celtic  art  in  Wales  reached  a  higher 
level,  if  we  may  judge  by  the  Psalter  executed  by  Rice- 
march,  Bishop  of  S.  David's,  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
eleventh  century.  This  manuscript,  now  in  the  library 
of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,2  has  no  miniatures,  but  its 
three  ornamental  text-pages,  though  not  comparable  to 
the  best  \vork  of  the  school,  still  show  some  sense  of 
decorative  effect  in  their  interlaced  lacertine  borders  and 
zoomorphic  initials. 

Among  the  continental  monasteries  of  Irish  origin, 
two  of  the  most  famous  are  that  founded  by  S.  Columban 
at  Bobbio,  in  Piedmont,  and  his  disciple  S.  Gall's  founda- 
tion in  Switzerland.  In  these  and  the  rest  a  great  number 
of  Celtic  manuscripts  accumulated :  partly,  no  doubt, 
through  donations  from  the  parent  church  or  from  Irish 
pilgrims  who  visited  these  houses  on  their  way  to  or  from 
Rome ;  but  mainly  through  the  industry  of  the  inmates, 
working  under  the  direction  of  Irish  calligraphers  who 
had  brought  with  them  a  knowledge,  more  or  less  perfect, 
of  the  principles  of  Celtic  art.  The  Bobbio  manuscripts 
have  been  dispersed ;  but  the  Irish  influence  in  them 
would  seem,  judging  by  the  few  remnants  now  preserved 
in  Turin,  Milan,  and  Munich,  to  have  yielded  to  that  of 

1  Ii.  vi.  32.    The  decorated  pages  are  all  reproduced  in  the  Spalding  Club 
edition,  1869.     See  too  Pal,  Soc.,  i,  210,  211. 

2  Westwood,  Facsimiles,  p.  87 ;  Bruun,  p.  82,  pi.  10. 

33 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

the  local  Lombardic  and  Italo-Byzantine  schools,  except 
for  a  few  elements  of  ornament,  especially  plait  and  knot 
work  and  tessellated  patterns. 

The  primitive  traditions  were  maintained  more  closely 
at  S.  Gall,2  contending  influences  being  doubtless  weaker 
there  than  in  the  Italian  settlement.  The  famous  Gospel- 
book  (No.  51),  which  was  probably  written  in  the  mon- 
astery about  the  end  of  the  eighth  or  beginning  of  the 
ninth  century,  is  actually  nearer  in  style  to  the  Books  of 
Durrow,  Lichfield,  and  Kells  than  many  manuscripts  of 
undoubtedly  Irish  execution.  Its  beautiful  cruciform  page 
contains  panels  filled  with  lacertines,  and  frame-compart- 
ments filled  with  plaits,  spirals,  and  lozenges,  all  very 
perfectly  drawn  and  delicately  coloured.  Blue,  black, 
pale  yellow,  and  red  are  the  chief  tints  ;  no  silver  or  gold. 
In  the  portraits  of  the  Evangelists,  each  surmounted  by  his 
emblem  as  in  the  Durham  Book,  we  find  the  rudimentary 
figure-drawing  of  the  Mac  Regol  book  and  its  successors  ; 
but  these  pages  too  are  redeemed  by  the  excellence  of  the 
frame-borders,  filled  with  lacertines,  interlacings,  spirals, 
and  other  devices.  The  extraordinary  miniature  of  the 
Crucifixion  is  decidedly  more  dignified,  less  grotesque, 
than  that  in  the  Cambridge  Psalter:  but  there  is  an 
obvious  kinship  between  them,  and  Westwood's  remark 
on  this  picture  and  that  of  Christ  in  glory  is  not  much 
too  strong :  "  More  barbarous  designs  could  scarcely  be 
conceived."  This  book  is  much  the  finest  example  of 
Celtic  illumination  preserved  at  S.  Gall ;  but  the  others 
show  the  same  faithful  adherence  to  Irish  traditions. 

These  traditions  were  firmly  established  in  the  north 
of  England  by  the  end  of  the  seventh  century,  as  is  proved 
by  the  Lindisfarne  Gospels.  They  appear  very  plainly 

1  See  F.  Carta,  Atlante  paleografico-artistico,  1899,  pi.   10,  15;   C.  Cipolla, 
Codici  Bobbiesi,  1907,  pi.  39-41;  Pal.  Soc.,  i,  121;  L.  von  Kobell,  Kunstvolle 
Miniaturen,  p.  22,  pi.  12,  13. 

2  See  Keller's  article,  mentioned   on  p.  68  above ;  Westwood,  Facsimiles,  pp. 
62-8,  pi.  26-8.     Copies  of  many  of  the  miniatures  and  ornaments  in  these  manu- 
scripts were  made  for  the  Record  Commissioners  in  1833,  and  are  now  in  the 
Public  Record  Office  (Record  Commission  Transcripts,  ser.  iii,  No.  156). 

84 


CELTIC    ILLUMINATION 

in  two  eighth  century  manuscripts,  probably  executed  in 
the  same  district,  and  now  in  the  Durham  Cathedral 
Library.  One  of  these1  is  an  imperfect  copy  of  the 
Gospels,  having  a  splendid  "  In  principio "  page  not 
unlike  that  of  the  Lindisfarne  book,  besides  many  fine 
initials ;  it  also  contains  a  full-page  miniature  of  the 
Crucifixion,  whose  damaged  condition  is  the  less  to  be 
regretted  since  it  is  of  the  ungainly  type  represented  in 
the  Cambridge  and  S.  Gall  books — evidently  the  received 
Irish  treatment  of  this  subject.  The  other  manuscript,8 
ascribed  by  tradition  to  the  hand  of  Bede  (but  probably 
of  somewhat  later  date),  contains  the  commentary  of 
Cassiodorus  on  the  Psalms.  It  has  two  full-page  minia- 
tures, showing  David  as  harpist  and  warrior  respectively ; 
the  figures  are  rigid  and  rudely  drawn,  as  usual,  and  the 
ornament  of  the  enclosing  borders,  though  richly  varied 
(including  lacertines,  interlacings,  and  step-patterns),  is 
less  fine  in  execution  than  the  decorative  work  in  the 
Gospel-book.  A  still  further  decline  is  visible  in  the 
Prayer-book  of  Bishop  Aethelwald  of  Lindisfarne,  now 
in  the  Cambridge  University  Library,3  with  its  quaint 
drawings  of  the  Evangelists  and  their  emblems. 

But  the  Celtic  spirit  had  by  this  time  made  its  way 
southwards  to  Canterbury,  where  it  was  confronted  with 
a  rival  influence  introduced  from  Rome  by  Augustine  and 
his  missionaries.  The  result  was  a  curious  fusion  of  the 
two  manners,  a  combination  of  classical  composition  with 
Celtic  ornament,  which  is  strikingly  exemplified  in  the 
Psalter  of  S.  Augustine's  Abbey,  Canterbury.4  This 
manuscript,  executed  about  the  same  time  as  the  Lindis- 
farne Gospels,  has  initials  which  are  already  nearer  to 
Franco-Saxon  than  to  pure  Celtic  work.  The  body  of 

1  A.  ii.  17.    See  Westwood,  p.  48;  New  Pal.  Soc.,  pi.  30. 

2  B.  ii.  30.    See  Westwood,  p.  77,  pi.  17,  18;  Pal.  Soc.,  i,  164. 
8  LI.  i.  10.     Westwood,  p.  43,  pi.  24. 

4  Brit.  Mus.,  Vesp.  A.  i.  Westwood,  pp.  10-14,  pi.  35  Pal  Soc.,  i,  18,  19; 
Cat.  Anc.  MSS.,  ii,  pp.  8-n,  pi.  12-155  Thompson,  Eng.  Ilium.  MSS.,  pp. 
10-13,  pi.  2  ;  Warner,  Ilium.  MSS.,  pi.  3. 

85 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

these  letters  is  black,  with  coloured  terminals  plaited 
together  and  surrounded  by  red  dots.  The  plaits,  how- 
ever, are  more  open,  less  minute  than  in  Irish  illumination; 
the  panels  of  lacertines  have  vanished,  so  has  much  of 
the  spiral  work.  In  their  place  we  have  a  plentiful  use 
of  gold,  a  metal  never  found  in  Irish  manuscripts,  and 
very  sparingly  applied  to  the  Lindisfarne  Gospels.  This, 
with  the  great  black  letters,  produces  an  effect  of  sombre 
magnificence,  very  different  from  the  gay  yet  austere 
delicacy  of  the  best  Irish  initial-work,  though  distinctly 
traceable  to  its  influence. 

But  when  we  come  to  the  figure-composition,  we  see 
a  style  which  has  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  Celtic  illumi- 
nation, but  is  plainly  the  attempt  of  the  native  artist 
to  copy  a  late-classical  painting,  which  he  may  well  have 
found  in  one  of  the  books  brought  from  Italy  by  Augus- 
tine.1 Before  Psalm  xxvi,  a  full-page  miniature  shows 
David  the  Harpist  enthroned,  playing  in  concert  with 
four  other  musicians,  while  two  boys  dance  before  him, 
a  scribe  standing  on  either  side  of  the  throne.  Here  all 
is  painted  in  thick  body-colour,  faces  and  draperies  are 
modelled  and  gradated,  with  green  shadows  on  the  flesh 
and  white  high-lights.  The  figures,  though  badly  pro- 
portioned, are  no  mere  geometrical  shapes,  but  have  life 
and  movement ;  perspective  is  attempted,  though  in  some- 
what rudimentary  fashion.  The  picture,  in  short,  if  not 
beautiful,  aims  at  expressing  actuality,  and  belongs  to  an 
altogether  different  order  of  things  from  the  flat  and  con- 
ventional absurdities  which  passed  as  figure-compositions 
in  purely  Celtic  manuscripts.  Yet  the  arched  frame 
enclosing  it  is  richly  ornamented  with  trumpet-pattern 
and  interlacing,  as  well  as  with  gilded  rosettes  and 
lozenges ;  so  that  the  page  presents  an  almost  unique 
combination  of  Roman  and  Irish  elements,  welded  to- 
gether by  an  English  painter. 

1  Sir  G.  Warner  notes  the  interesting  fact  that  a  similar  design  occurs  in  a 
tenth  century  Bobbio  MS. ;  the  treatment  is  different,  but  again  shows  no  hint  of 
Celtic  influence. 

86 


CELTIC    ILLUMINATION 

Something  of  this  fusion  is  still  to  be  seen  in  a  late 
eighth  century  Gospel-book  emanating  from  the  same 
abbey,1  but  with  a  marked  weakening  of  the  Celtic  in- 
fluence. The  tables  of  Eusebian  Canons  are  enclosed 
in  arcades,  pillars  and  arches  being  profusely  decorated 
with  medallions  and  compartments  rilled  with  ornamental 
devices ;  but  these  include  arabesque  scrolls  and  many 
other  non-Celtic  patterns,  and  perhaps  the  most  distinct- 
ive sign  of  Irish  inspiration  is  to  be  seen  in  the  plentiful 
use  of  red  dots,  which  had  by  now  become  a  recognized 
feature  of  English  manuscripts,  often  forming  the  sole 
attempt  at  embellishment. 

1  Brit.  Mus.,  Roy.  i  E.  vi.  Westwood,  pp.  39-42,  pi.  14,  15  ;  Pal.  Soc.,  i,  7; 
Cat.  Anc.  AfSS.,  ii,  pp.  20-2,  pi.  17,  18 ;  Warner,  Reproductions,  iii,  3. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   CAROLINGIAN   RENAISSANCE 

WHEN  Charlemagne  became  king  of  the  Franks, 
in  A.D.  771,  he  found  himself  at  the  head  of  a 
nation  as  inconspicuous  artistically  as  it  was 
militantly  important.  The  existing  remains  of  Mero- 
vingian, Lombardic,  and  Visigothic  art,  conveniently 
classed  by  some  German  critics  under  the  general  heading 
of  "  Wandering  of  the  Nations  style,"  can  at  best  only  be 
described  as  quaint,  while  at  worst  they  are  unspeakably 
hideous.  They  consist  mainly,  so  far  as  the  decoration 
of  manuscripts  is  concerned,  of  strange  initial  letters  and 
detached  ornaments,  based  on  fishes,  birds,  and  dragons, 
with  cable  and  plait  patterns  borrowed,  in  all  probability, 
from  Classical  mosaics.  These  are  generally  drawn  in 
coarse  coloured  outline  and  flatly  tinted  in  crude  colours, 
red,  yellow,  and  green  predominating.  They  are  found 
in  the  seventh  and  eighth  century  MSS.  of  France,  Spain, 
Germany,  Lombardy,1  the  same  patterns  surviving  in 
continental  Romanesque  stone-carving  down  to  the  twelfth 
century.  Their  strange,  distorted  shapes  belong  to  a 
different  world  from  the  sophisticated  ornament  of  Classical 
art ;  they  are  the  ancestors  of  the  long  series  of  grotesques 
which  became  so  constant  and  prominent  a  feature  of 
Gothic  design.  There  is  a  strong  family  likeness  between 
these  fantastic  initials  and  those  noted  in  chapter  iii  as 
occurring  in  Greek  Gospel-books  of  the  tenth  and  eleventh 
centuries — a  likeness  probably  due  to  a  common  Oriental 

1  Many  reproductions,  especially  from  manuscripts  now  preserved  in  the 
Bibliotheque  Nationale  at  Paris,  are  given  in  the  Comte  de  Bastard's  monumental 
Peintures  et  ornements  des  manuscrits,  1832-69.  See  too  L.  Delisle,  Mtmoire  sur 
d'anciens  sacramentaires,  1886  (Mem.  de  FAcad.  des  Inscr.  et  Belles-Lcttres^  xxxii,  i). 

88 


THE    CAROLINGIAN    RENAISSANCE 

ancestry.  In  the  horse-shoe  arches,  which  occasionally 
appear  on  full  pages  of  decoration,  the  influence  of  Moorish 
architecture  is  apparent.  Here  and  there  too  are  found 
pages  filled  with  interlaced  rings,  lattice-work,  and  a  few 
simple  geometrical  devices,  faintly  reminiscent  of  the 
least  interesting  pages  in  the  Book  of  Durrow.  This 
suggestion  of  kinship  with  Celtic  art  is  borne  out  in  the 
Gellone  Sacramentary1  by  the  symbolism  which  repre- 
sents the  first  three  Evangelists  by  their  emblems,  and 
S.  John  by  a  very  Egyptian-looking  eagle-headed  man. 
This  manuscript,  however,  is  one  of  the  latest  productions 
of  the  Merovingian  school  (if  school  be  an  applicable 
word),  and  shows  signs  of  its  transitional  character  both 
in  script  and  illuminations.  In  its  sole  miniature,  for 
instance,  of  the  Crucifixion  (f.  I43b),  the  figures  of  the 
hovering  angels,  and  of  Christ  clothed  in  a  loin-cloth 
reaching  to  the  knee,  suggest  some  early  Italo-Byzantine 
archetype  in  fresco  or  mosaic,  and  have  nothing  in 
common  with  the  barbarous  design  found  in  Celtic  manu- 
scripts. But  whatever  the  precise  source  may  have  been 
of  individual  elements  in  pre-Carolingian  illumination,  its 
most  salient  characteristic  is  a  bizarre,  barbaric  quality, 
symptomatic  of  a  low  state  of  culture. 

With  the  third  quarter  of  the  eighth  century,  however, 
we  enter  on  a  new  era.  Charlemagne,  when  he  was  seized 
with  the  idea  of  reviving  the  Roman  Empire,  desired  an 
imperialism  which  should  be  Latin  in  other  things  besides 
greatness  of  dominion.  His  scheme  included  an  intel- 
lectual ascendency,  and  a  transference  of  the  faded  glories 
of  Classical  art,  the  ripening  ones  of  Byzantine,  to  his  own 
capital  and  court.  The  name  of  Carolingian  Renaissance 
is  given  to  the  resulting  efflorescence  of  learning  and  the 
arts,  which  took  place  under  his  immediate  influence. 
His  school  is  unique  in  this,  that  it  owed  its  inception  to 
the  personal  encouragement  of  a  prince,  not  to  the  genius 
of  individual  artists.  We  notice,  in  fact,  in  Carolingian 

1  Paris,  Bibl.  Nat.,  lat.  12048,  ff.  42,  42b.  For  description  of  the  MS.  see 
Delisle,  p.  80. 

89 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

manuscripts  not  so  much  greatness  of  technical  achieve- 
ment as  a  general  magnificence  of  plan.  Charlemagne 
11  dreamed  greatly";  his  miniaturists,  without  a  native 
tradition  to  help  them,  carried  out  his  ambitions  as  best 
they  might.  Beginning  at  his  capital  of  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
the  artistic  revival  radiated  throughout  the  Western 
Empire ;  influenced  Southern  England,  already  feeling 
the  first  stirrings  of  culture ;  and,  under  Charles's  suc- 
cessors, determined  the  subsequent  course  of  European 
pre-Gothic  art. 

In  the  decoration  of  books  this  artistic  revival  was 
essentially  derivative  and  composite.  Byzantine  influence 
is  at  once  discernible,  not  only  in  the  purple  pages  and 
gold  lettering  of  some  of  the  most  sumptuous  manuscripts, 
but  also  in  the  composition  of  the  portraits  of  Evangelists 
and  other  miniatures,  and  in  the  arcades  enclosing  the 
Eusebian  Canons.  To  account  for  this  influence,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  lay  much  stress  on  the  direct  relations  of 
Charles  with  the  court  of  Constantinople — not  even  on 
the  fact  that  a  Greek  tutor  was  sent  thence  to  instruct 
his  daughter,  for  some  years  betrothed  to  the  Emperor 
Constantine  VI.  Still  less  need  we  suppose  that  the 
iconoclasm  of  Constantine's  predecessors  caused  a  great 
influx  of  Greek  painters  into  Charles's  dominions ;  the 
resemblance  of  Frankish  to  Byzantine  miniature  is  in 
iconography  rather  than  manner,  the  work  of  imitators 
rather  than  pupils.  It  is  to  Rome  and  Ravenna,  doubt- 
less, not  to  Byzantium  itself,  that  we  must  look  for  the 
immediate  source  of  this  resemblance,  as  well  as  for  that 
of  the  Late  Classical  and  Early  Christian  elements  which 
appear  in  Carolingian  illumination.  In  784  Charles 
despoiled  Ravenna  of  marbles  and  mosaics  for  the  en- 
richment of  Aix-la-Chapelle ;  and  it  may  be  supposed 
that  he  did  not  return  empty-handed  from  Rome,  which 
he  had  already  visited  thrice  (in  774,  781,  and  787)  before 
his  coronation  there  as  Emperor  in  800.  It  is  known, 
in  fact,  that  he  brought  back  Roman  singers,  in  his  zeal 
for  bringing  the  Frankish  liturgy  into  conformity  with 
90 


PROP 


PLATE  IX 


+CANON 

TNOVOIOH 


ECIMVJS 
PROPRIET  T  . 


GOSPELS  f'CODEX  AUREUS";.  CAROLINGIAN,  CIRCA  800 

BRIT.    MUS.,    HARL.    2788 


THE    CAROLINGIAN    RENAISSANCE 

which  they  are  illustrated  are  evidently  derived  from 
some  excellent  Classical,  perhaps  Roman,  original ;  repro- 
duced by  artists  who  were  thoroughly  at  home  with  their 
model  and  yet  were  no  servile  copyists,  as  is  evident  from 
the  naturalistic  manner  and  the  grasp  of  values  and  the 
meaning  of  form  which  characterize  their  work.  These 
paintings,  in  fact,  show  something  of  the  true  antique 
tradition  in  the  pose  of  the  figure,  easy  yet  dignified ;  in 
its  harmonious  relation  to  its  background  ;  in  the  pro- 
foundly studied  fall  of  the  draperies.  The  same  tradition 
is  manifest,  again,  in  the  severe  simplicity  of  the  archi- 
tectural decoration  of  the  Canon-tables.  It  would  seem, 
therefore,  that  the  Carolingian  Renaissance  was  based  at 
the  outset  on  all  that  was  best  in  Classical  art.1 

As  we  move  away  from  Aix-la-Chapelle  to  the  pro- 
vincial schools,  we  find  ourselves  travelling  farther  and 
farther  away  from  this  really  beautiful  restatement  of  the 
antique  idea.  It  is  supposed  that  the  Palatine  school 
produced  its  masterpieces  during  Charlemagne's  reign, 
between  795  and  814 ;  and  that  they  became,  together 
with  the  manuscripts  imported  by  Charles  and  his  coun- 
sellors, the  point  of  departure  for  the  national  manner. 
This  manner  assumed  its  characteristic  form  in  the 
monastic  scriptoria  which  were  founded,  or  at  any  rate 
encouraged,  by  the  Emperor  and  his  sons ;  but  in  most 
cases  it  came  to  its  development,  not  in  Charles's  own 
day,  but  in  the  later  times  of  Louis  the  Pious  and 
Lothaire.  Some  writers  have  attributed  this  fact  to  the 
rather  iconoclastic  position  which  Charles  took  up  during 
the  great  controversy ;  but  a  more  probable  explanation 
lies  in  the  period  of  time  which  must  necessarily  elapse 
before  a  newly  established  school  is  fit  to  undertake  the 
production  of  elaborately  illuminated  manuscripts. 

It  is,  however,  likely  enough  that  Charles's  views, 
liberal  as  they  were,  did  tend  to  restrict  the  number  of 

1  It  must  be  noted,  however,  that  Leprieur  doubts  whether  these  three  manu- 
scripts can  be  assigned  to  the  Schola  Palatina,  or  to  so  early  a  date  as  the  lifetime 
of  Charlemagne.  See  Michel,  i,  i,  335-6. 

93 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

subjects  illustrated  by  the  early  Carolingian  artists,  and 
also  helped  that  turn  for  symbolism  which  strikes  such 
an  unexpected  note  in  the  work  of  this  otherwise  prosaic 
school.  After  the  Evangelist-portraits  and  Canon-tables 
(borrowed,  as  we  have  seen,  from  Greek  Gospel-books), 
the  most  characteristic  subjects  in  Carolingian  illumina- 
tion are  the  Hand  of  God  giving  the  benediction ;  the 
Fountain  of  Life,  an  odd  compound  of  East  and  West, 
with  its  Syrian  pagoda-like  temple,  its  peacocks  and 
drinking  stags ;  the  Apocalyptic  Adoration  of  the  Lamb 
by  the  Elders ;  the  Lamb  with  the  chalice,  symbolizing 
the  Mass ;  and  sometimes  the  Christ  in  Glory,  of  the 
beardless  catacomb-type.  These  are  the  subjects  proper 
to  Gospel-books.  The  Alcuin-Bibles  also  illustrate 
Genesis,  and  occasionally  Exodus ;  but  never  the  life 
of  Christ.  This  comes  in  later,  the  cycle  of  permissible 
subjects  being  gradually  enlarged  till,  before  the  Ottonian 
period  is  reached,  almost  every  event  and  parable  in  the 
Gospels  has  its  authorized  representation. 

From  the  school  attached  to  Charlemagne's  court  we 
naturally  turn  first  to  Tours,  where  his  friend  and  adviser 
Alcuin  spent  the  closing  years  of  his  life,  from  796  to  804, 
as  abbot  of  S.  Martin's.  There  is  a  special  fitness  too 
in  the  fact  that  among  the  finest  products  of  the  Tours 
school  are  copies  of  Alcuin's  revision  of  the  Vulgate, 
though  none  of  those  extant,  probably,  were  executed 
during  his  lifetime.  We  have  no  reason  for  supposing 
him  to  have  concerned  himself  with  pictorial  illustration 
of  the  Bible  ;  his  great  aim  was  to  purge  the  text  itself 
of  errors  which  had  crept  in  through  the  carelessness  or 
ignorance  of  successive  copyists.  Indirectly,  however,  he 
must  have  influenced  the  formation  of  the  distinctive 
Tours  style,  which  is  characterized  in  its  conventional 
ornament  by  a  blending  of  Celtic  with  Classical  elements, 
through  his  importation  of  manuscripts  from  North- 
umbria  (where  Hiberno-Saxon  illumination  had  already 
reached  its  prime)  as  well  as  from  Italy.  But  it  was 
under  his  successors  that  the  school  of  Tours  rose  into 

94 


subjects  il 
an  v 


luclin: 


PLATE  X 


GOSPEL  BOOK  OF  S.  MEDARD'S  ABBEY,  SOISSONS.  EARLY  IXxH  CENT. 

PARIS,  BIBL.  NAT.,  LAT.  8850 


PLATE  XI 


ALCUIN   BIBLE.  CAROLINGIAN,  IX™  CENT 

BRIT.    MUS.,    ADD.    10546 


THE    CAROLINGIAN    RENAISSANCE 

Besides  a  great  wealth  of  miniatures  illustrating  Bible- 
history,  and  of  frame-borders  to  the  text-pages  (similar  to 
those  in  the  S.  Emmeran  Gospels),  it  has  huge  ornamental 
initials  to  the  several  books.  The  miniatures  are  unequal 
in  quality,  and  are  clearly  the  work  of  more  than  one 
hand.  The  best  of  them  show  distinct  traces  of  kinship 
with  Byzantine  miniatures  of  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries, 
and  were  doubtless  based  on  models  imported  from  Italy. 
The  resemblance  is  chiefly  in  the  pose  of  the  figures,  and 
in  some  of  the  facial  types,  especially  Moses  in  the 
Pentateuch  scenes ;  in  fineness  of  finish,  modelling,  and 
execution  generally,  the  Western  artist  is  immeasurably 
inferior.  Many  of  the  compositions  were  evidently  copied 
from  the  Vivian  Bible  or  its  archetype,  but  the  range  of 
subjects  illustrated  is  much  wider.  Interesting  as  the 
miniatures  are,  however,  they  are  quite  eclipsed  in  beauty 
by  the  decorative  work,  which  is  really  admirable, 
particularly  the  delicate  foliate  terminations  of  the  large 
initials. 

Next  in  antiquity  to  the  school  of  Tours,  and  surpass- 
ing it  both  in  originality  and  productiveness,  comes  what 
Janitschek  has  designated  the  school  of  Metz,  while 
admitting  that  the  localization  rests  on  inference  and 
conjecture  rather  than  certain  knowledge.  The  manu- 
scripts which  he  groups  together  under  this  head  are 
beyond  doubt  closely  related  to  one  another,  and  it  is 
natural  to  suppose  that  they  emanated  from  the  same 
school ;  but  there  is  much  force  in  Leprieur's  contention l 
that  this  school  was  associated  with  the  Imperial  court — 
was  the  Schola  Palatina,  in  short — and  the  title  "  School 
of  Godescalc,  or  of  the  Ada  Gospels,"  which  he  gives  it, 
has  at  any  rate  the  advantage  of  safety.  Wherever  its 
home  may  have  been,  this  school  produced,  in  the  clos- 
ing years  of  the  eighth  century  and  the  first  three  decades 
of  the  ninth,  a  splendid  series  of  manuscripts,  including 
some  of  the  finest  examples  of  Carolingian  art  that  have 
survived  to  our  days.  Pre-eminent  among  these  are 

1  Michel,  p.  336. 

99 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

some  magnificent  Gospel-books  of  large  size,  written  in 
gold  and  profusely  illuminated. 

The  earliest  of  these  is  the  Godescalc  book,1  a  Gospel- 
lectionary,  written  for  Charlemagne  about  781-3  by  a 
monk  named  Godescalc.  As  might  be  expected  from  its 
early  date,  it  is  the  artless  performance  of  an  inexpert 
painter  who  has  an  abundance  of  material  to  copy  from, 
but  cannot  assimilate  or  reproduce  it.  Modelling  and 
perspective  are  practically  non-existent ;  the  colouring  is 
mostly  pallid  and  weak ;  the  drapery  folds,  indicated  by 
heavy  black  lines,  have  little  relation  to  actuality.  These 
faults  are  especially  prominent  in  the  portraits  of  the 
Evangelists,  which  occupy  the  first  four  pages  ;  a  distinct 
improvement  is  visible  in  the  "  Majestas  Domini "  which 
fills  the  next  page,  representing  the  enthroned  Christ  as 
beardless,  long-haired,  almost  feminine,  wearing  a  nimbus 
with  jewelled  cross,  giving  the  benediction  with  the  right 
hand  and  holding  a  book  in  the  left.  The  verso  of  this 
leaf  is  devoted  to  the  subject  usually  called  the  Fountain 
of  Life.  The  Syrian  ancestry  of  this  composition  has 
already  been  mentioned,  and  is  plainly  shown  here,  as  in 
the  later  and  finer  Soissons  book,2  by  the  strange  portico 
under  which  the  fountain  is  placed,  and  the  long-tailed 
Oriental  birds  which  hover  about  it,  along  with  stags  and 
more  homely  birds.  The  border-ornament  is  compara- 
tively slight,  consisting  of  banded  frames  filled  with 
plait-work,  step-pattern,  and  a  few  more  of  the  designs 
usually  found  in  early  Carolingian  books.  The  text- 
pages  are  stained  purple — an  effort  at  splendour  which 
was  fortunately  not  generally  imitated  by  later  artists  of 
the  school. 

About  the  year  800  three  manuscripts  were  produced 
so  nearly  related  to  one  another  that  there  is  no  room  for 
hesitation  in  grouping  them  together  as  representing  the 
school  in  its  middle  period.  These  are  the  Codex 
Aureus  in  the  British  Museum  (Harl.  2788),  the  Gospels 

1  Paris,  Bibl.  Nat,  Nouv.  acq.  lat.  1203  (anc.  1993). 

2  PL  x. 
IOO 


in  the  Abbeville  Library  (No.  i),  and  the  celebrated 
Ada  MS.  in  the  Treves  City  Library  (No.  22).  The 
Harleian  Gospel-book1  is  one  of  the  most  magnificent 
manuscripts  remaining  from  the  actual  age  of  Charle- 
magne. Written  throughout  in  gold,  in  double  columns, 
every  column  is  surrounded  by  a  narrow  illuminated 
border.  In  the  first  part  of  the  book  these  are  of  gold 
also,  patterned  with  plaited,  tessellated,  and  key  designs, 
grotesque  birds,  etc.  But  after  the  first  few  quires  they 
begin  to  deteriorate ;  red,  green,  and  dull  purple,  or 
bands  of  imitation  marbling,  take  the  place  of  the  gold, 
and  the  fineness  of  execution  is  lost.  In  the  Canon- 
tables  too  there  is  a  change  half-way  through :  the  first 
six  are  very  richly  decorated,  the  golden  arches  with 
elaborate  capitals  and  columns  filled  with  plait  and 
scroll  work  contrasting  effectively  with  the  paintings  of 
birds  and  trees  (often  in  monochrome,  always  in  com- 
paratively subdued  colouring)  which  fill  the  spandrels. 
The  absence  of  silver,  and  the  habit  of  outlining  the 
gold  with  a  fine  red  line,  give  a  particularly  warm  and 
glowing  effect  to  these  splendid  arcades.  In  the  last  five 
tables  much  less  gold  is  used,  the  pillars  are  of  many- 
coloured  marble,  and  there  is  not  so  much  elaboration 
of  ornament.  By  this  change,  however,  monotony  is 
avoided,  and  the  gorgeous  effect  of  the  first  part  is  en- 
hanced ;  a  curious  variety  is  introduced,  on  one  page, 
in  the  form  of  spirally  twisted  pillars  covered  with  human 
figures  in  quaint  attitudes.2  Besides  borders  and  Canon- 
tables,  this  Codex  Aureus  has  a  decorated  title-page,  full- 
page  portraits  of  the  Evangelists,  and  a  magnificent  text- 
page  at  the  beginning  of  each  Gospel.  The  portraits 
show  a  great  advance  on  the  primitive  art  of  the  Gode- 
scalc  book,  though  the  S.  John  has  decided  affinity  with 
the  Majestas  Domini  of  the  older  manuscript.  The 

1  Fully  described   in    Cat.  Anc.  MSS.,  ii,  pp.   22-4,  pi.   39-41.     See  too 
Warner,   Ilium.  MSS.,  pi.  4,  5,  and  Reproductions^  iii,  4 ;   Janitschek, 

pp.  86-7,  pi.  26-8;  Kenyon,  Biblical  MSS.,  No.  13. 

2  PI.  ix. 

101 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

Evangelists  are  all  of  the  young,  beardless  type  which 
henceforth  became  traditional — a  departure  from  the 
bearded  faces  of  the  Godescalc  book ;  long-nosed,  large- 
eyed,  with  high  arched  brows ;  solidly  painted  in  body- 
colour,  with  green  shadows  on  the  flesh  and  heavy  streaks 
of  white  for  the  high-lights.  The  anatomy  is  sometimes 
at  fault,  e.g.  in  the  impossible  wrench  by  which  S.  Mark 
is  dipping  his  pen  in  the  ink.  But  the  faces  have  life  and 
expression,  especially  Matthew  and  Mark ;  there  are 
distinct  signs  of  modelling  and  perspective ;  and  the 
draperies,  though  much  folded,  are  treated  with  a  con- 
siderable measure  of  success.  The  compositions  as  a 
whole  are  evidently  derived  from  late  Roman,  rather  than 
Byzantine  art.  In  the  text-pages  which  face  them,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  main  idea  is  Celtic  ;  but  this  is  profoundly 
modified  by  the  free  use  of  gold,  by  the  purple  grounds, 
by  the  abandonment  of  spirals,  lacertines,  and  the  most 
intricate  plaited  and  knotted  designs,  and  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  new  devices:  the  initial  "Q"  of  S.  Luke's  Gospel, 
for  instance,  encloses  a  picture  of  the  Angel  appearing  to 
Zacharias — a  form  of  illumination  of  which  hints  had 
already  appeared  in  some  of  the  initials  in  the  Gellone 
Sacramentary,  and  which  afterwards  became  an  important 
feature  in  the  decorative  scheme  of  the  Gothic  schools. 

The  Abbeville  and  Treves  "  Codices  Aurei"  resemble 
the  Harleian  so  closely  that  only  a  few  words  need  be 
added  about  them.  The  Evangelist  types  are  practically 
identical  in  all  three  manuscripts,  though  not  in  all  cases 
applied  to  the  same  Evangelist ;  and  the  general  plan 
of  decoration  is  alike  in  all  three,  but  the  sumptuous 
illumination  of  the  Canon-tables  in  the  Harleian  MS. 
is  not  rivalled  in  the  other  two.  The  Abbeville  MS., 
given  by  Charlemagne  (according  to  tradition)  to  Angil- 
bert,  Abbot  of  S.  Riquier  from  790  to  814,  has  the 
imposing  but  unpleasing  peculiarity  of  being  written  on 
purple.  The  Treves  MS.  is  supposed  to  have  been  given 
to  S.  Maximin's  Monastery  by  Ada,  a  natural  sister  of 
Charlemagne,  about  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century ; 

102 


THE    CAROLINGIAN    RENAISSANCE 

though  the  simplest,  it  is  perhaps,  artistically,  the  finest 
of  the  three. 

The  full  development  of  the  school  is  exemplified  in 
the  Soissons  Gospels,1  a  splendid  Codex  Aureus,  one  of 
the  most  perfect  of  all  extant  memorials  of  Carolingian 
illumination.  Until  1790  it  was  preserved  in  S.  Me- 
dard's  Abbey,  Soissons,  the  gift  (according  to  a  highly 
probable  tradition)  of  Louis  the  Pious  when  he  spent 
Easter  there  in  827.  Besides  portraits  of  the  Evan- 
gelists, arcaded  Canon-tables,  and  illuminated  initial- 
pages  to  the  Gospels,  it  has  two  full-page  miniatures  : 
the  first,  an  allegorical  picture  of  the  Church  in  adoration, 
is  not  found  in  any  other  Carolingian  manuscript ;  the 
second  represents  the  Fountain  of  Life,2  and  agrees  in 
conception  with  that  in  the  Godescalc  MS.,  but  is  ob- 
viously taken,  not  from  that  barbarous  work,  but  from 
some  well-composed  and  carefully  drawn  original.  Com- 
mon ancestry  with  the  Godescalc  MS.  is  suggested  again 
by  the  bearded  S.  Matthew,  but  the  other  Evangelists 
correspond  in  type  with  those  of  the  Harley,  Abbeville, 
and  Ada  Gospels.  The  book  has  altogether  a  strong 
family  likeness  to  these  three,  but  shows  a  more  advanced 
tradition  as  well  as  finer  individual  taste  and  skill.  It 
resembles  the  first-named  in  having  spiral  shafts  for  some 
of  the  pillars  supporting  the  Canon-arches ;  but  its  work 
is  more  delicate  and  finished  throughout,  its  colouring 
is  brighter  and  more  pleasing,  and  its  pages  have  less 
tendency  to  become  overloaded  with  gilding  and  decora- 
tion. The  figures  too  are  much  more  vigorous  and 
lifelike,  especially  in  the  Biblical  scenes  introduced  into 
the  spandrels  and  lunettes  of  the  arches. 

Since  Janitschek  has  attributed  these  manuscripts 
to  a  school  of  illuminators  working  at  Metz,  he  naturally 
groups  with  them  the  Sacramentary3  of  Drogo,  Bishop 
of  Metz  826-55  J  it  nas»  however,  little  apparent  con- 

1  Paris,  Bibl.  Nat.,  lat.  8850. 

2  PI.  x. 

3  Paris,  Bibl.  Nat.,  lat.  9428.     See  New  Pal  Soc.,  pi.  185-6. 

103 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

nection  with  them.  It  contains  no  large  miniatures  ;  but 
their  place  is  taken  by  an  interesting  series  of  large 
illuminated  initials,  quite  different  in  style  from  anything 
to  be  seen  in  earlier  Carolingian  paintings.  These  initials 
are  based  on  a  combination  of  strap-work  and  scroll-like 
foliage,  and  many  of  them  enclose  delicately  tinted  draw- 
ings of  scriptural  incidents,  executed  in  a  manner  plainly 
allied  to  that  of  the  Rheims  school,  to  be  noticed  pre- 
sently. There  are  two  Gospel-books  at  Paris,1  whose 
decoration  is  of  similar  character  ;  and  these  three  are 
the  only  manuscripts  to  which  the  title  "  School  of  Metz" 
can  safely  be  given.  The  Lothaire  Psalter,  recently  be- 
queathed by  Sir  Thomas  Brooke  to  the  British  Museum,2 
is  perhaps  rightly  classed  by  Janitschek  with  the  Soissons 
Gospels,  as  to  place  of  origin ;  it  is  later,  however  (after 
840),  and  altogether  inferior  in  artistic  merit  and  preten- 
sion, its  chief  point  of  interest  being  a  full-page  portrait 
of  the  Emperor  Lothaire. 

Two  smaller  offshoots  from  the  main  stem  of  Prankish 
illumination  may  be  briefly  mentioned.  The  school  of 
Rheims,  as  seen  in  the  Ebbo  Gospels  at  6pernay  (No. 
1722)  and  the  Blois  Gospels  at  Paris  (lat.  265),  forms 
a  connecting  link  between  the  early  Carolingian  art  of 
what  Janitschek  calls  the  Palatine  school  and  the  pen- 
drawings  of  the  celebrated  Utrecht  Psalter.  From  this 
point  of  view  they  will  be  discussed  in  the  next  chapter, 
where  the  Utrecht  Psalter  and  its  descendants  are  con- 
sidered. The  fipernay  book,  executed  at  Hautvillers, 
near  Rheims,  for  Bishop  Ebbo  (816-35),  is  perhaps  the 
most  characteristic  work  of  this  school ;  but  the  Blois 
book  is  of  special  importance  because,  by  its  strong 
resemblance  to  the  Gospels  in  the  Vienna  Schatzkammer, 
it  suggests  the  archetype  from  which  the  Rheims  artists 
procured  their  technique.  This  technique,  in  fact,  with 
its  attempt  towards  natural  yet  violent  action,  its  ex- 

1  Bibl.  Nat.,  lat.  9383,  9388. 

2  Add.  37768.     See  Pal,  S0f.,  i,  69,  70,  93-4  (then  owned  by  Messrs.  Ellis 
and  White). 

104 


THE    CAROLINGIAN    RENAISSANCE 

traordinarily  agitated  sketchy  line,  its  crumpled  clinging 
draperies,  is  what  one  might  expect  to  result  from  the 
efforts  of  an  inexperienced  painter  to  imitate  the  delicately 
illusionist  neo-classical  art  of  the  Palatine  school.  The 
Canon-tables,  placed  under  classical  pediments,  are  a 
departure  from  the  Romanesque  arcading  usual  in  Caro- 
lingian  manuscripts.  On  one  of  them  sit  two  little 
carpenters,  hammering  nails  into  the  cornice :  a  pleasant 
variation  from  the  usual  peacocks  or  ducks,  and  an  early 
example  of  the  illustration  of  contemporary  crafts.  Spiral 
columns  occur  here  too,  as  in  the  Harley  and  Soissons 
Gospels. 

The  most  salient  characteristic  of  the  Franco-Saxon 
school,  which  has  been  associated  specially  with  the  abbey 
of  S.  Denis,  originally  an  Irish  foundation,  is  the  pre- 
dominance of  Celtic  ornament,  especially  weaving  and 
spiral  patterns.  These  are  sometimes,  as  in  the  little 
Gospel-book  in  the  British  Museum,1  executed  in  true 
Celtic  fashion  in  white  line  on  a  black  ground.  The 
curious  looped  corner-pieces,  with  swan-headed  finials, 
are  another  mark  of  this  school.  Figure-painting,  where 
it  occurs,  follows  the  usual  Carolingian  type,  and  shows 
some  affinity  with  the  style  of  the  Tours  school.  Among 
the  best  examples  of  the  school  are  the  Gospel  of  Francois 
II  and  the  Second  Bible  of  Charles  the  Bald,  at  the 
Bibliotheque  Nationale  (lat.  257  and  2);  and  the  Gospel- 
lectionary  of  S.  Vaast,  at  Arras  (No.  1045). 

1  Eg.  768.     See  Warner,  Ilium.  MSS.>  pi.  6,  and  Reproductions,  i,  18. 


105 


CHAPTER  VI 

OUTLINE-DRAWINGS    OF    THE    NINTH,    TENTH,    AND 
ELEVENTH  CENTURIES,  ESPECIALLY  IN  ENGLAND 

WE  have  seen  how  the  Celtic  school,  before  it 
began  to  decay  in  its  own  home,  sent  offshoots 
eastward  and  southward,  which  deeply  influ- 
enced the  subsequent  course  of  European  illumination ; 
and  now  we  notice  a  return  current  from  the  Continent, 
bringing  to  England  a  new  inspiration  which — though 
not,  strictly  speaking,  describable  as  illumination  at  all — 
became  a  determining  factor  in  the  development  of  early 
English  miniature.  This  new  inspiration  was  the  art  of 
freehand  or  outline  illustration,  which  before  its  appear- 
ance in  England  in  the  tenth  century  had  already  enjoyed 
a  century  or  more  of  life  in  Western  Europe,  and  which 
arose — as  so  many  of  the  best  artistic  inspirations  have 
arisen — from  the  remains  of  Classical  art.  Though  of 
continental  origin,  it  was  in  England  that  this  art  de- 
veloped its  highest  powers.  It  flourished  here  for  more 
than  two  centuries,  providing  the  Anglo-Saxon  artist  with 
a  medium  exactly  suited  to  his  temperament.  Alternately 
the  rival  and  assistant  of  the  more  orthodox  illumination 
in  gold  and  colours,  it  fused  with  it  to  form  the  beautiful 
eleventh  century  Winchester  style,  and  bequeathed  to  the 
later  English  schools  an  understanding  of  pure  line  which 
profoundly  affected  their  subsequent  development. 

The  first  sign  of  the  new  tendency,  towards  expression 
by  line  rather  than  mass,  is  seen  in  the  celebrated  and  much- 
discussed  manuscript  called  the  Utrecht  Psalter.  This 
book  first  appears  in  history  about  the  year  1625,  being 
then  in  Sir  Robert  Cotton's  library,  where  it  bore  the 
1 06 


OUTLINE-DRAWINGS 

press-mark  "Claudius  C.  vii";  but  it  had  already  dis- 
appeared from  the  Cottonian  collection  in  1674,  and 
nothing  more  is  known  of  its  adventures  until  1718, 
when  it  was  presented  to  the  University  Library  at 
Utrecht,  of  which  it  is  now  one  of  the  chief  treasures. 
It  was  seen  there  by  Westwood,  who  first  called  public 
attention  to  it  in  1859.*  The  antique  appearance  of  its 
triple  columns  and  its  rustic-capital  script  misled  him,  on 
his  first  cursory  inspection,  into  giving  it  a  much  earlier 
date  than  a  later  and  more  leisurely  examination,  by 
himself  and  other  experts,  was  found  to  warrant ;  and 
for  many  years  a  great  battle  raged  as  to  whether  it  was 
a  relic  of  the  fourth,  ninth,  or  some  intermediate  century,2 
theologians  who  upheld  the  earlier  date  acclaiming  it  as 
evidence  in  support  of  the  authenticity  of  the  Athanasian 
Creed,  which  occurs  in  it  (as  in  most  medieval  Psalters) 
among  the  Canticles  and  other  pieces  which  follow  the 
Psalms.  In  order  to  decide  the  controversy,  the  Utrecht 
authorities  in  1873  allowed  the  manuscript  to  be  deposited 
for  a  time  in  the  British  Museum,  where  it  was  examined 
by  the  leading  authorities  in  this  country ;  and  all  of 
them,  with  the  single  exception  of  Sir  T.  D.  Hardy  (who 
had  already  declared  for  the  sixth  century,  and  saw  no 
reason  to  change  his  opinion),  agreed  in  assigning  it  to 
the  eighth  or  ninth  century,  with  a  preference  for  the 
ninth.3  This  judgment  was  afterwards  confirmed  by  the 
best  continental  critics,  and  may  now  be  accepted  with 
confidence,  later  researches  having  furnished  additional 
reasons  in  its  support.  One  of  its  authors,  Sir  E.  M. 
Thompson,  has  had  the  further  satisfaction  of  seeing  his 
obiter  dictum,  that  "  the  MS.  was  probably  written  in  the 

1  Archaeological  Journal,  xvi,  245-7. 

2  A  full  chronicle  of  the  dispute  may  be  seen  in  W.  de  G.  Birch's  The  Utrecht 
Psalter,  1876. 

3  See  The   Utrecht  Psalter.     Reports  addressed  to  the  Trustees  of  the  British 
Museum  on  the  Age  of  the  MS.,  by  E.  A.  Bond,  E.  M.  Thompson,  H.  O.  Coxe,  and 
others  (including  Westwood),  with  preface  by  A.  P.  Stanley,  D.D.,  1874.     During 
its  stay  in  England  the  manuscript  was  photographed  throughout  for  the  Palaeo- 
graphical  Society,  who  published  a  complete  Autotype  Facsimile  in  1874. 

107 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

north-east  of  France,"  verified  through  the  studies  of 
Count  Paul  Durrieu,1  who  has  shown  conclusively  that 
the  illustrations  must  be  classed  with  the  productions  of 
the  Rheims  school  of  Carolingian  illuminators. 

The  Utrecht  Psalter  is  a  small  folio  of  ninety-one  leaves, 
and  has  166  illustrative  drawings.  One  of  these  occupies 
the  whole  of  the  first  page ;  the  others  are  of  the  full 
width  of  the  page  and  about  one-third  of  its  height,  and 
interrupt  the  three  columns  of  text,  sometimes  coming 
at  the  top  of  the  page,  sometimes  at  the  bottom,  some- 
times midway.  They  are  freely  drawn  with  the  pen  in 
dark  brown  ink,  and  left  quite  uncoloured.  They  are, 
in  fact,  outline  and  often  impressionist  sketches  of  crowded 
scenes  containing  an  immense  number  of  small  restless 
figures,  with  tiny  heads  thrust  forward  eagerly,  hunched-up 
shoulders,  and  long  attenuated  limbs ;  set  in  a  landscape 
of  crags,  boulders,  and  rounded  hillocks,  with  a  few 
feathery  trees.  Apart  from  a  little  shading  here  and 
there,  the  work  is  done  entirely  by  means  of  fine  pen- 
strokes,  drawn  apparently  with  extreme  rapidity,  and 
producing  a  remarkable  effect  of  lively,  agitated,  even 
tempestuous  movement ;  the  draperies  flutter  wildly,  and 
even  the  contours  of  the  landscape  have  a  wind-swept 
appearance.  Despite  its  sketchy  character,  the  drawing 
is  firm  and  delicate,  especially  in  the  first  part  of  the 
book — farther  on  the  hand  changes,  and  the  work  becomes 
altogether  inferior.  There  are  no  frames  or  suggestions 
of  pattern — no  attempts  at  a  decorative  result.  We  have 
here  the  very  opposite  of  Celtic  ideals  in  art. 

For  many  years  after  its  discovery  by  Westwood,  the 
Utrecht  Psalter  was  generally  regarded  as  an  early 
specimen  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  school  of  outline-illustration 
which  flourished  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  but 
which  has  left  no  authentic  remains  of  earlier  date.  M. 
Durrieu's  careful  researches,  however,  have  proved  beyond 
any  reasonable  doubt  that  the  book  must  have  emanated 
from  the  same  school  as  the  Ebbo  Gospels  at  Epernay, 

1  L'Origine  du  manuscrit  ctlibrc  dit  k  Psautier  d'Utrecht^  1895. 
1 08 


OUTLINE-DRAWINGS 

which  were  executed,  as  we  have  seen,1  at  Hautvillers, 
near  Rheims,  between  816  and  835.  The  eye  is  caught 
at  once,  in  the  latter  book,  by  the  curious  fluttering 
draperies,  the  nervous  rapid  strokes  from  right  to  left, 
which  are  such  distinctive  features  of  the  Utrecht  Psalter 
drawings,  and  descend  through  it  to  the  artists  of  Win- 
chester and  Canterbury.  Further,  in  several  miniatures 
of  the  Ebbo  Gospels  figures  and  scenes  occur  which  are 
identical  with  those  of  the  Utrecht  Psalter ;  and  this  at  a 
date  when  nothing  of  the  kind  is  known  to  have  existed 
in  England.  Moreover,  the  knot-work  initial  B,  in  gold 
and  colours,  at  the  beginning  of  Psalm  i  in  the  Utrecht 
Psalter — its  one  piece  of  illumination  strictly  so  called — 
is  of  a  form  which  M.  Durrieu  finds  peculiar  to  the 
Rheims  school.  It  seems  certain,  therefore,  that  the  art 
of  outline-illustration  was  born  on  Prankish  soil,  and 
imported  at  a  later  date  into  the  English  schools. 

The  division  of  the  page  into  three  columns,  and  the 
use  of  an  archaic  form  of  writing,  make  it  almost  certain 
that  the  Utrecht  Psalter  is  a  copy  of  a  much  older  codex  ; 
but  there  is  far  too  much  freedom  about  the  drawings  to 
let  us  regard  them  as  mere  copies,  although  the  archetype 
may  very  probably  have  supplied  the  subjects.  These, 
like  many  of  the  miniatures  in  contemporary  Greek 
Psalters  of  the  "  monastic-theological  "  class,8  are  naively 
literal  illustrations  of  single  passages  in  the  Psalms.  On 
f.  8,  for  instance,3  Psalm  xiv  (xv).  i  is  illustrated  by  two 
continuous  scenes :  in  the  first,  a  man  is  being  invited  to 
enter  the  tabernacle,  in  the  second  he  is  resting  on  the 
holy  hill.  The  drawings  at  the  foot  of  the  page  refer  to 
the  next  psalm,  which  follows  overleaf — an  arrangement 
which  goes  far  towards  proving  that  the  artist  took  his 
subjects  from  the  archetype,  not  from  the  text  before  him. 

1  Above,  p.  104. 

2  See  above,  p.  49.     The  subjects  of  the  Utrecht  Psalter  drawings  have  been 
described  by  A.  Springer,  "  Die  Psalterillustrationen  im  fruhen  Mittelalter,"  in 
Abhandlungen  der  phil.-hist.  Classe  der  k.  sacks.  Gesellschaft  der  Wissenschaften,  viii 
(Leipzig,  1883),  pp.  228-94. 

109 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

It  is  evident,  at  any  rate,  that  he  was  to  some  extent 
inspired  by  designs  in  which  Classical  traditions  still 
survived.  Over  and  over  again  the  true  antique  flavour 
is  discernible :  in  the  Three  Maries  at  the  Sepulchre  on 
f.  8,  in  the  warriors  on  f.  I3b,  in  the  Bacchante  crowned 
with  laurel  on  f.  82b.  This  method,  moreover,  of  rough 
outline-illustration  is  paralleled  by  the  Terence  manu- 
scripts described  in  chapter  i,  which  have  much  in  common 
with  the  Utrecht  Psalter  and  its  derivatives. 

Either  the  Utrecht  Psalter  itself,  or  another  Psalter 
of  the  same  type  and  resembling  it  very  closely,  must 
soon  have  found  its  way  to  England :  not  only  is  its 
influence  apparent  in  the  English  outline-drawings  of 
the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  but  three  manuscripts 
are  still  extant  which  were  obviously  derived,  if  not 
directly  copied,  from  it  or  one  of  its  congeners.  These 
are  Harl.  603  (early  eleventh  century)  in  the  British 
Museum,  to  be  noticed  farther  on ;  the  Eadwin  Psalter 
(twelfth  century,  executed  in  the  Canterbury  Cathedral 
priory)  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge;1  and  the  Tripartite 
Psalter  in  the  Bibl.  Nat.  at  Paris  (lat.  8846,  formerly 
Suppl.  lat.  1194,  thirteenth  century).2 

In  France  too  the  style  was  practised  contempo- 
raneously, and  on  very  similar  lines  to  those  taken  by  the 
English  schools.  The  miniatures,  drawings,  and  histori- 
ated  initials  of  the  Franco-Saxon  Psalter  at  Boulogne,3 
for  instance,  are  scarcely  distinguishable  from  English 
work  of  the  time,  and  show  how  small  a  claim  our  so- 
called  native  school  has  to  originality.  This  book, 
executed  between  989  and  1008  at  the  abbey  of  S.  Bertin 
in  S.  Omer,  is  additionally  interesting  because  it  shows 
the  progressive  and  informal  art  of  outline-drawing  at 
work  upon  compositions  of  the  strictly  conservative 

1  M.  R.  James,  Catalogue  of  Western  MSS.  in  the  Library  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  \\,  1901,  pp.  402-10. 

2  H.  O[mont],  Psautitr  illustre  [1906]. 

3  Bibl.    Municip.,    No.    20.     See  Pal.   So:.,  i,  97 ;    Westwood,   Facsimiles, 
pp.  104-7,  pl.  37-9- 

IIO 


mspin 


PLATR  XII 


MCHCJirf^OXIMOSUO 

MALCM 

KJOKJACCfflTADUJJL 


K'tCH/M f T I  Mk1  A f>  /I 


UTRECHT   PSALTER.   IX™   CENT. 


OUTLINE-DRAWINGS 

the  wrinkled  hose  and  sleeves  no  longer  appear.  On  the 
other  hand,  though  the  fighting  scenes  are  full  of  vigour, 
there  is  none  of  the  dainty  charm  which  characterizes  the 
earlier  books.  The  faces  are  mostly  repellent,  with  long 
hooked  noses ;  in  fact,  the  artist  has  only  slightly  carica- 
tured his  usual  types  in  the  two  devils  which  he  intro- 
duces (departing  from  tradition)  into  the  picture  of  Luxury 
feasting. 

Outline-drawings  of  the  occupations  proper  to  the 
several  months  are  often  found  in  the  Calendars  prefixed 
to  Psalters  and  other  liturgical  books.  These  Calendar- 
pictures,  to  which  we  owe  so  much  of  our  knowledge 
of  the  daily  life  of  the  Middle  Ages,  may  be  regarded 
as  the  far-off  descendants  of  the  somewhat  dubious  illus- 
trations to  the  fourth  century  Calendar  of  Filocalus. * 
They  first  appear  in  a  Vatican  MS.  (Reg.  438)  containing 
the  Martyrology  of  Wandalbert  of  Prtim,  and  probably 
written  in  France  or  Western  Germany  about  the  begin- 
ning of  the  tenth  century.2  In  England,  the  earliest 
examples  are  of  the  eleventh  century ;  and  though  their 
manner  is  distinctively  Anglo-Saxon,  many  of  their 
details  suggest  a  Classical  archetype. 

The  best-known  instance  of  this  is  an  eleventh 
century  Hymnal  in  the  British  Museum  (Jul.  A.  vi), 
which  contains  a  complete  set  of  these  occupation- 
pictures,  drawn  with  extraordinary  delicacy  and  minute- 
ness in  brown  outline  on  the  lower  margins  of  the 
Calendar-pages.  The  airy,  dainty  technique  has  some- 
thing more  of  the  Utrecht  Psalter  quality  than  is  often 
seen  in  English  work  of  this  time ;  and  the  presence  in 
the  Calendar  of  such  saints  as  Germain,  Denis,  Philibert, 
Bertin,  Genevieve,  and  Lambert,  along  with  Wilfrid  and 
Cuthbert,  and  the  absence  of  most  of  the  distinctive 
South-English  patrons,  seem  to  suggest  that  it  may  have 

1  See  above,  p.  3. 

2  A.    Riegl,    "Die    mittelalterliche    Kalenderillustration,"    in    MittheiL  des 
Instituts  fur  oesterr.    Gtschicktsforsckung,  x,    1889,  pp.    1-74.     There   is   an   in- 
teresting article  by  J.  Fowler,  in  Archaeologia,  xliv,  1873,  pp.  137-224,  on  these 
occupation-pictures  in  various  forms  of  art. 

8  113 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

been  copied  en  bloc  from  a  French  original — possibly  in 
a  Northumbrian  monastery.  The  draughtsmanship  has 
plenty  of  well-marked  Anglo-Saxon  peculiarities,  in  the 
slender  long-legged  bending  figures,  the  wind-blown 
draperies,  the  lively  action.  But  relics  of  a  Classical 
tradition  are  still  traceable,  notably  in  the  April  scene 
of  three  patricians  reclining  on  a  lion-ended  couch,  whilst 
a  servant  offers  them  wine  and  a  Roman  legionary  stands 
on  guard.  So  too  the  May  picture  of  shepherds  with 
their  flocks  has  something  in  common  with  the  pastoral 
miniatures  of  the  Vatican  Virgil.  January,  with  its  plough- 
ing scene,  and  October,  with  its  hawking  party,  are  more 
medieval,  and  foreshadow  the  more  elaborate  Calendar- 
paintings  found  in  fifteenth  century  Horae  and  Breviaries. 
Continental  though  its  origin  may  have  been,  this 
cycle  of  Calendar-illustrations  had  evidently  become 
naturalized  in  England  by  the  eleventh  century.  The 
whole  series  appears  again  in  a  collection  of  astronomical 
and  chronological  treatises  (Tib.  B.  v),  contemporary 
with  Jul.  A.  vi,  though  differing  widely  from  it  in  style, 
this  time  drawn  in  thick  outline  and  rather  crudely  painted 
in  colours.  The  scale  is  larger,  the  dainty  nervous  manner 
is  gone ;  but  the  compositions  are  identical  in  every 
detail,  even  to  the  lion-ended  couch  in  the  April  scene, 
the  attitude  of  the  hay-makers  in  June.  As  given  in 
these  two  manuscripts,  the  series  is  as  follows : — 

January.  Ploughing  with  four  oxen  ;  sowing. 

February.  Pruning  trees. 

March.  '  Breaking  up  the  soil ;  sowing. 

April.  Feasting  in  state. 

May.  Shepherds  with  their  flocks. 

June.1  Felling  trees. 

July.1  Hay  harvest. 

August.1  Corn  harvest. 

1  So  Jul.  A.  vi ;  Tib.  B.  v.  has  the  same  compositions,  but  in  different  (and 
obviously  wrong)  order,  viz,  June,  Corn  harvest ;  July,  Felling  trees ;  August,  Hay 
harvest. 

114 


OUTLINE-DRAWINGS 

September.  Boar  hunt. 

October.  Hawking. 

November.  Halloween  fire. 

December.  Threshing  and  winnowing. 

There  is  no  a  priori  improbability  in  the  supposition 
that  these  designs  are  of  continental  origin.  The  copy- 
ing of  fine  manuscripts — illuminations  as  well  as  text — 
was  a  regular  and  important  part  of  the  work  of  a 
medieval  scriptorium ;  and  the  havoc  wrought  by  the 
Danes  all  over  England  in  the  ninth  century  must  have 
left  but  few  examples  of  native  art  to  serve  as  models. 
Hence  recourse  would  naturally  be  had  to  manuscripts 
imported  from  the  Continent ;  we  have,  in  fact,  direct 
evidence  of  this  in  the  Prudentius  MSS.,  and  in  the 
imitations  of  the  Utrecht  Psalter.  Of  the  three  existing 
specimens  of  the  latter  class,  the  oldest  is  Harl.  603  in 
the  British  Museum,  written  in  Southern  England — 
perhaps  at  S.  Augustine's,  Canterbury — about  the  begin- 
ning of  the  eleventh  century.1  As  far  as  the  composi- 
tions are  concerned,  it  is  (except  for  a  few  pages  near 
the  end)  a  copy  of  the  Utrecht  Psalter ;  but  its  variations 
in  detail  suggest  a  long  series  of  successive  copies  in- 
tervening between  it  and  its  archetype.  By  this  time,  as 
we  might  expect,  the  Classical  flavour  of  the  original  has 
evaporated;  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  love  of  coloured  line 
has  substituted  blue,  green,  red,  and  sepia  for  the  uni- 
form brown  ink  of  the  original.  The  distribution  of 
colour  is  quite  arbitrary,  e.g.  hair  and  foliage  are  some- 
times coloured  blue.  The  nervous  technique  of  the 
Utrecht  Psalter  has  now  vanished,  and  is  replaced  by 
the  firm  outline  of  an  artist  who  is  at  home  with  his 
medium.  Once,  at  the  end  of  Psalm  xxx  (xxxi),  where  the 
Utrecht  Psalter  has  left  a  blank  space,  the  illustrator 
leaves  his  r61e  of  copyist,  and  produces  a  really  beautiful 
drawing  (partly  sketched  in  pencil  only),  in  the  pure 

1  Thompson,  Engl.  Ilium.  MSS.,  pp.  16-18,  pi.  3 ;  M.  R.  James,  The  Ancient 
Libraries  of  Canterbury  and  Dover,  1903,  pp.  Ixxi,  532. 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

Anglo-Saxon  manner  of  his  own  time,  of  a  great  angel 
helping  the  Psalmist  to  climb  a  steep  and  rocky  ascent, 
while  the  devil  tries  to  hold  him  back  with  a  trident. 
If,  as  seems  probable,  this  scene  is  by  the  same  artist 
as  the  rest  of  the  book,  we  must  suppose  him  to  have 
adopted  a  deliberate  archaism  when  working  from  the 
traditional  Psalter  designs. 

It  was  in  the  closing  years  of  the  tenth  century  that 
Anglo-Saxon  outline-drawing  attained  its  greatest  perfec- 
tion ;  above  all,  at  Winchester,  which  maintained  an 
artistic  primacy  down  to  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century. 
One  of  the  most  beautiful  examples  of  the  style  is  a  full- 
page  miniature  of  the  Crucifixion,  prefixed  to  a  late  tenth 
century  Psalter1  which  was  probably  written  at  Win- 
chester. It  is  drawn  in  reddish  brown  and  pale  blue 
outline ;  and  though  it  shows  the  characteristic  faults 
of  the  school  in  the  bowed  shoulders  of  the  Virgin,  in 
the  unduly  large  hands  and  feet  of  S.  John,  and  in  the 
agitated  draperies,  yet  for  tenderness  of  feeling  and  purity 
of  line  it  has  seldom  been  surpassed  in  any  period.  That 
the  tenth  century  draughtsman  did  not  always  reach 
such  a  level  is  shown  by  the  Leofric  Missal,2  now  in  the 
Bodleian  Library  (No.  579).  This  very  interesting  little 
book  was  given  to  Exeter  Cathedral  by  Leofric,  its  first 
bishop,  about  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century.  It 
is  in  two  distinct  parts  :  the  first  part,  a  Sacramentary, 
is  early  tenth  century  Franco-Saxon  work ;  the  second, 
a  Calendar  with  paschal  tables,  etc.,  was  written  in 
England  about  970,  and  includes  three  full-page  minia- 
tures in  red,  green,  blue,  and  purple  outline.  These 
represent  a  king,  emblematic  of  Life,  holding  a  lettered 
scroll ;  a  particularly  hideous  figure  of  Death ;  and  two 
almost  charming,  curly-headed,  eagerly  gesticulating 
figures.  The  flimsy  agitated  draperies  and  long  toes  and 

1  Brit.  Mus.,  Harl.  2904.     Thompson,  p.   23,  pi.  6 ;  Warner,  Ilium.  MSS., 
pi.  7,  and  Reproductions ;  ii,  4. 

2  Westwood,  Facsimiles,  p.  99,  pi.  33 ;  The  Leofric  Missal,  ed.  F.  E.  Warren, 
1883. 

116 


OUTLINE-DRAWINGS 

fingers  are  thoroughly  characteristic;  and  these  bright, 
light  pages,  though  not  more  than  second-class  of  their 
kind,  are  curiously  attractive  when  contrasted  with  the 
heavier  and  more  ornate  manner  of  the  late-Carolingian 
illumination  in  the  same  volume. 

Passing  on  to  the  eleventh  century,  we  find  the  Win- 
chester school  well  to  the  fore  with  two  manuscripts 
executed  at  the  royal  foundation  of  Newminster,  after- 
wards Hyde  Abbey,  and  now  in  the  British  Museum. 
One  of  these  (Tit.  D.  xxvii1)  is  a  very  small  volume, 
written  about  1012-20,  partly  by  the  monk  Aelfwin,  who 
was  afterwards  abbot ;  it  contains  the  Offices  of  the  Holy 
Cross  and  Trinity,  with  two  full-page  drawings  in  tinted 
outline.  The  first,  a  Crucifixion,  is  interesting  for  the 
personifications  of  sun  and  moon.  The  second,  a  sym- 
bolic representation  of  the  Trinity,  is  in  the  best  and 
least  exaggerated  manner  of  eleventh  century  Anglo- 
Saxon  drawing:  the  faces  are  gentle  and  winning,  the 
arrangement  of  the  figures  is  unusually  skilful.  The 
Father  and  Son  sit  side  by  side,  really  dignified  and 
beautiful  personifications  ;  beside  them  stands  the  Virgin, 
the  Dove  settling  on  her  crown,  in  her  arms  the  Child, 
symbolizing  the  human  as  distinct  from  the  divine 
character.  All  these  are  enclosed  in  a  jewelled  circle, 
beneath  which  Satan,  Judas,  and  Arius  crouch  in  fetters 
above  the  open  jaws  of  hell. 

Still  finer  is  the  Newminster  Liber  Vitae,  or  register 
and  martyrology  (Stowe  944), 2  drawn  up  about  1016-20, 
and  prefaced  by  three  pages  of  admirable  drawings, 
lightly  and  delicately  sketched  in  brown  ink,  and  touched 
here  and  there  with  yellow,  red,  green,  and  blue.  On  the 
first  page  are  portraits  of  King  Canute  and  his  queen 
Aelfgyfu,  offering  a  large  gold  cross  on  the  altar.  They 
are  watched  from  below  by  the  monks  in  their  stalls ; 

1  Pal.  Soc.,  i,  60 ;  W.  de  G.  Birch,  On  Two  Anglo-Saxon  JlfSS.,  1876  (Roy. 
Soc.  of  Literature,  Transactions,  new  series,  xi,  pt.  iii). 

2  Birch,  Liber  Vitae,  Hampshire  Record  Soc.,   1892;  Pal.  Soc.,  ii,  16,  17; 
Warner,  Reproductions,  ii,  6. 

117 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

and  two  attendant  angels  hover  above  them,  pointing 
upwards  to  Christ,  who  appears  within  a  mandorla, 
between  Our  Lady  and  S.  Peter,  the  patrons  of  the 
abbey.  All  this  is  disposed  with  great  skill  on  the  narrow 
upright  page.  Having  done  justice  to  the  munificence 
of  the  reigning  monarch,  the  artist  now  turns  to  matters 
of  wider  import,  and  depicts  on  the  next  two  pages1  the 
final  rewards  of  good  and  evil.  The  first  and  second 
compartments  of  this  design  represent  S.  Peter  receiving 
the  blessed  at  the  gate  of  heaven,  and  rescuing  a  soul 
by  main  force  from  the  clutches  of  the  devil ;  the  third 
shows  an  angel  locking  up  the  damned  in  hell.  All  the 
naive  beauties  of  the  developed  English  style  are  fore- 
shadowed in  this  drawing :  in  the  courteous  empressement 
with  which  S.  Peter  welcomes  the  elect ;  in  the  gentle, 
piteous  appeal  with  which  the  poor  little  soul  in  jeopardy 
looks  up  to  him  ;  in  the  simple  and  joyous  expressions 
of  the  tonsured  saints. 

A  third  example  of  Winchester  work  is  the  so-called 
Caedmon  MS.  in  the  Bodleian,2  which  was  perhaps 
executed  for  Abbot  Aelfwin  at  Newminster  about  1035. 
It  contains  a  series  of  Anglo-Saxon  poems,  treating 
of  the  fall  of  Satan,  the  Creation,  and  various  incidents 
of  early  Bible  history,  and  thus  resembling  Caedmon's 
work  in  subject  at  any  rate.  These  are  copiously  illus- 
trated with  outline-drawings,  mostly  in  brown  ink,  the 
rest  in  red,  green,  or  black.  The  illustrations  to  the  first 
part  are  full  of  action,  but  show  little  sense  of  proportion 
or  design.  Some  of  the  large  draped  figures  are  finely 
conceived  ;  some,  as  the  delicious  angel  who  stands  on 
tiptoe  at  the  gate  of  Eden,  have  the  ingenuous  fascination 
of  Winchester  art  at  its  best.  All  attempts  to  represent 

1  Plate  xiii  shows  the  right-hand  page,  which  contains  the  principal  part  of 
the  design.     On  the  left-hand  page  are  only,  in  the  first  compartment,  two  groups 
of  saints  and  martyrs  led  by  angels  towards  the  gate  of  heaven  \  in  the  second, 
two  nimbed  spectators  of  the  contest. 

2  Junius  n,  described,  with  facsimiles  of  the  drawings,  in  ArchaeoZogia,  vol. 
xxiv,   1832,  pp.   329-40.     See  too  Westwood,  Facsimiles,  p.   in;  Pal.  Soc.,  ii, 
14,15- 

III 


PLATE  XIII 


LIBER  VITAE  OF  NEWMINSTER,  WINCHESTER.  EARLY  Xlrn  CENT. 

BRIT.    MtJS.    STOWE   944 


PLATE  XIV 


PSALTER.  ENGLISH,  X!TH  CENT. 

BRIT.    MUS.    TIB.    C  VI. 


ENGLISH    ILLUMINATION    TO    1200 

written  on  the  Continent  in  the  ninth  century,  but  many 
additions  were  made  in  England  towards  the  middle  of 
the  tenth  century,  including  a  Calendar  decorated  with 
roughly  coloured  drawings  of  the  zodiacal  signs  and  of 
saints,  enclosed  in  circular  or  rectangular  frames,  and  also 
three  full-page  miniatures  drawn  in  heavy  black  outline 
and  painted  in  rather  pale  colours.  The  first  two  represent 
Christ  in  glory,  surrounded  by  choirs  of  angels,  prophets, 
and  saints  ;  unusual  and  interesting  compositions,  doubt- 
less copied  from  some  foreign  original,  probably  on  a 
much  larger  scale.  The  third  represents  the  Ascension  ; 
and  the  manuscript  once  contained  a  fourth,  of  the 
Nativity,1  now  bound  up  in  the  Bodleian  MS.,  Rawlinson 
B.  484.  The  ground  of  the  second  miniature  is  black,  and 
there  is  more  finish  altogether  about  it  than  in  the  other 
two,  which  are  painted  on  the  plain  vellum ;  but  in  all 
three,  as  in  the  Calendar  decorations,  there  is  a  rude, 
inchoate  appearance,  as  of  an  untrained  copyist  striving 
laboriously  to  reproduce  the  model  set  before  him ;  there 
is  no  gradation  or  perspective,  the  faces  are  expressionless, 
the  heads  and  hands  much  too  big,  the  drapery  lines  too 
heavy  and  uniform,  both  in  the  black  pen-strokes  and  in 
the  curves  of  white  paint.  In  short,  this  book  represents 
the  beginning  of  a  movement  to  replace  the  lost  art  of 
Hiberno-Saxon  illumination  by  a  new  style,  founded  on 
continental  models,  and  shows  the  defects  natural  to  work 
of  this  character.  No  evidence  is  forthcoming  to  support 
the  tradition  which  makes  Athelstan  the  patron  for  whom 
these  paintings  were  done,  but  it  is  highly  probable  that 
the  book  in  its  original  state  was  given  to  him,  con- 
sidering his  connection  with  Charles  the  Simple,  Otto 
the  Great,  and  other  continental  potentates  through  the 
marriages  of  his  sisters  ;  and  the  decorations  subsequently 
added,  crude  and  tentative  as  they  are,  may  be  taken  as 
representing  the  best  work  of  which  English  artists  were 
at  that  time  capable. 

1  Reproduced  by  Westwood,  who  was  the  first  to  recognize  its  connection 
with  Galba  A.  xviii. 

123 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

Progress  from  this  point  was  rapid,  and  the  latter  half 
of  the  tenth  century  finds  the  Winchester  school  at  its 
zenith.  The  general  decline  of  the  monasteries  which, 
joined  with  the  Danish  wars,  had  put  an  end  to  artistic 
production  for  the  time  being,  was  abruptly  checked  by 
the  reforms  introduced  under  S.  Dunstan.  His  exile  in 
956-7  had  given  him  an  opportunity  of  studying  the 
Benedictine  rule  at  Ghent,  and  its  subsequent  introduction 
into  most  of  the  English  monasteries  was  undoubtedly 
due  to  his  influence,  though  he  did  not  take  an  active 
part  himself  in  the  movement,  which  was  carried  on 
chiefly  by  S.  Oswald,  Bishop  of  Worcester,  and  S.  Aethel- 
wold,  Bishop  of  Winchester.  The  appointment  of  the 
latter  indeed,  in  963,  marks  an  epoch  alike  in  the  monastic 
and  artistic  history  of  England.  He  had  already,  as 
Abbot  of  Abingdon,  sent  to  Fleury  for  instruction  in  the 
rule  of  S.  Benedict,  and  begun  to  enforce  its  observance 
in  his  abbey ;  and  he  signalized  his  promotion  to  Win- 
chester by  expelling  the  secular  clerks  from  both  Old  and 
New  Minsters,  and  bringing  monks  from  Abingdon  to 
fill  their  places.  The  reform  thus  instituted  spread  by 
degrees  to  all  parts  of  the  country.  Its  introduction 
synchronized  with  a  great  advance  in  the  art  of  illumina- 
tion, an  advance  in  which  Winchester  led  the  way ;  and 
the  two  movements  are  assuredly  related  more  closely 
than  by  a  mere  coincidence  in  time.  Foreign  influence 
is  plainly  discernible  in  the  new  style  of  book  decoration, 
both  in  the  composition  of  miniatures  and  in  the  elements 
of  ornament;  and  Sir  G.  Warner's  suggestion1  that  Fleury 
supplied  this  influence,  as  well  as  a  stricter  ideal  of 
monastic  life,  seems  highly  probable. 

Tne  accession  of  King  Edgar  in  959,  followed  as  it 
was  by  his  selection  of  Dunstan  for  chief  adviser  and  for 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was  no  doubt  an  important 
contributory  cause  of  the  development  of  the  new  style, 
which  first  appears  in  his  foundation  charter  granted  to 

1  Ilium.  MSS.,  p.  iv. 
124 


ENGLISH    ILLUMINATION    TO    1200 

New  Minster  in  966.*  This  document,  written  through- 
out in  gold,  is  in  book  form,  and  has  for  frontispiece,  on  a 
pale  purple  ground,  a  votive  picture  of  the  king,  between 
the  Virgin  and  S.  Peter,  offering  his  charter  to  Christ, 
who  appears  above  in  a  mandorla  supported  by  four 
graceful  angels.  These  are  disposed  with  a  regard  for 
space-composition  not  always  seen  in  the  work  of  the 
Winchester  school.  King  Edgar's  angular  attitude,  his 
wrinkled  sleeves  and  hose,  the  Virgin's  folded  head-dress, 
the  pleated  draperies,  all  exactly  reproduce  the  technique 
of  Anglo-Saxon  outline-drawing.  But  the  heavy  paint- 
ing and  lavish  use  of  gold  take  away  the  sense  of  airy 
impressionism  which  constitutes  the  special  charm  of  that 
style.  The  drapery  folds  are  now  indicated  by  alternate 
lines  of  white  and  of  dark  local  colour.  Limbs  and 
features  are  still  defined  by  heavy  lines,  but  there  is 
a  good  attempt  at  modelling,  and  the  faces  are  by  no 
means  void  of  life  and  expression ;  in  fact,  the  advance 
on  the  crude  paintings  of  King  Athelstan's  Psalter  is 
enormous.  The  surrounding  frame,  of  two  gold  rods 
entwined  with  blue,  green,  buff,  and  dull  red  foliage,  may 
be  pointed  out  as  an  excellent  example  of  the  character- 
istic Winchester  ornament  in  its  first  stage.  It  is  prob- 
ably based  on  the  border  decoration  found  in  later 
Carolingian  manuscripts  such  as  the  Bible  of  S.  Paul's, 
and  is  indirectly  derived  from  Classical  leaf-mouldings. 
Its  pedigree  appears  more  clearly  in  some  of  the  later 
manuscripts,  where  the  border  consists  of  a  repeat-pattern 
of  small  crisp  leaves  strictly  confined  in  panels  or  between 
straps  and  rods,  except  at  the  corners,  where  the  foliage 
breaks  out  from  these  bounds,  twining  itself  about  the 
confining  rods  and  corner-pieces,  and  sprouting  freely  in 
all  directions.  In  the  page  now  under  consideration 
there  are  no  corner-pieces,  and  the  foliage  projects 
beyond  the  framing  rods  the  whole  way  round. 

The  next  example  of  Winchester  work  is  beyond  all 

1  Brit.  Mus.,  Vesp.  A.  viii.     See  Westwood,  Facsimiles,  pp.  130-2,  pi.  47; 
Pal.  Soc.,  i,  46-7  ;  Warner,  Reproductions,  i,  4. 

125 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

question  the  masterpiece  of  the  school.  This  is  the 
magnificent  Benedictional  of  S.  Aethelwold  in  the  Duke 
of  Devonshire's  library,1  written  by  Godeman,  a  monk  at 
Winchester,  for  Aethelwold,  about  975-80,  and  enriched 
with  thirty  full-page  miniatures  and  thirteen  pages  of 
text  enclosed  in  arches  or  rectangular  borders,  besides 
some  other  illuminated  pages  now  lost.  That  the  artist 
understood  the  use  of  pen  or  pencil  far  better  than  that 
of  paintbrush  is  strikingly  apparent.  The  colouring  of 
the  miniatures  is  for  the  most  part  inharmonious  and 
unpleasing :  a  harsh  vivid  green,  ill  matched  with  dull 
shades  of  purple,  mauve,  and  other  secondary  tints — all 
painted  in  thick  body-colour,  and  broken  and  modelled 
with  white.  The  general  effect,  however,  is  brightened 
by  a  plentiful  use  of  gold.  The  treatment  of  the  faces 
shows  little  advance  on  the  Athelstan  Psalter :  they  are 
mostly  painted  a  sort  of  pinkish  brick-red,  heavily  over- 
laid with  streaks  of  white.  In  the  borders  a  richer  effect 
is  aimed  at,  gold  and  bright  colours  predominating  ;  and 
the  result  is  generally  successful.  The  draughtsmanship 
is  excellent  throughout,  firm  and  clear,  and  already 
giving  promise  of  the  delicacy  which,  as  we  saw  in  the 
last  chapter,  characterized  English,  and  particularly 
Winchester,  drawing  in  the  eleventh  century ;  this  is 
shown  very  plainly  in  the  last  miniature  in  the  book, 
which  has  only  been  coloured  in  part,  the  rest  being 
drawn  in  red  outline.  Many  of  the  compositions  are 
evidently  derived,  directly  or  indirectly,  from  Italo- 
Byzantine  archetypes :  in  the  miniature  of  the  Baptism, 
for  instance,  the  river-god  of  Jordan  appears  with  his 
urn,  as  in  the  mosaics  of  the  Ravenna  Baptistery — an 
unexpected  bit  of  paganism  to  light  upon  in  an  English 
book  of  King  Edward  the  Martyr's  time.  Some  of  the 
miniatures  are  set  in  arches  or  under  pediments,  flanked 
with  Oriental-looking  buildings ;  but  the  majority  are 

1  The  Benedictional  of  St.  Aethelwold,  ed.  G.  F.  Warner  and  H.  A.  Wilson, 
Roxburghe  Club,  1910.  See  too  Archaeologia,  xxiv,  pp.  1-117;  Westwood,  pp. 
132-5,  pi.  45;  Pal.  Soc.,  i,  142-4;  Burlington  F.A.  Club,  No.  n,  pi.  17. 

126 


ENGLISH    ILLUMINATION    TO    1200 

enclosed  in  rectangular  borders  of  typical  Winchester 
style :  frames  of  gold  panelled  or  entwined  with  acanthus 
leaves,  with  sprays  of  foliage  at  the  corners  and  centres 
of  the  sides. 

Contemporary  with  this  Benedictional  is  the  Harleian 
Psalter  (2904),  whose  beautiful  drawing  of  the  Crucifixion 
was  mentioned  in  the  last  chapter.  It  also  contains  large 
initials  for  Psalms  i  (Beatus  vir),  ci  (Domine  exaudi),  and 
cix  (Dixit  Dominus),  finely  illuminated  in  gold  and 
colours.  In  all  three  the  plan  is  the  same  :  a  gold  frame 
divided  into  panels  filled  with  leaf-moulding,  dogs'  heads 
with  open  jaws,  plait-work  terminals  to  the  upright  part 
of  the  frame,  the  body  of  the  letter  filled  with  inter- 
twining scrolls  of  foliage.  The  "  B  "  is  specially  interest- 
ing as  representing  the  model  on  which  the  initial  letter 
of  English  Psalters  was  based  for  the  next  three  cen- 
turies. 

In  the  companion  volume  to  S.  Aethelwold's  book, 
the  so-called  Benedictional  of  Archbishop  Robert,1  now 
in  the  Public  Library  at  Rouen,  the  peculiarities  of  the 
Winchester  style  are  still  further  developed.  This  manu- 
script, which  was  probably  given  to  his  cathedral  by 
Robert  of  Normandy,  Archbishop  of  Rouen  990-1037, 
seems  to  have  been  written  at  Newminster  for  the  use  of 
Aethelgar,  sometime  Abbot,  who  became  Bishop  of  Selsey 
in  980,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  (in  succession  to 
Dunstan)  in  988,  and  died  in  990.  Its  decoration  is 
comparatively  meagre,  consisting  only  (in  its  present 
state)  of  three  full-page  miniatures  and  five  pages  of  text 
surrounded  with  borders  in  gold  and  colours.  The  com- 
positions are  practically  identical  with  those  of  the  corre- 
sponding pictures  in  the  Benedictional  of  Aethelwold, 
but  there  are  signs  of  advance  in  the  pose  and  propor- 
tions of  the  figures  and  in  the  treatment  of  the  faces ; 

1  Ed.  H.  A.  Wilson,  Henry  Bradshaw  Soc.,  1903.  See  too  Archaeologia, 
xxiv,  pp.  118-36;  Westwood,  p.  139.  Besides  episcopal  benedictions  at  Mass, 
it  contains  a  collection  of  pontifical  offices,  including  the  rite  of  consecration  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  kings ;  so  it  should  strictly  be  called  a  Pontifical. 

127 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

the  border  ornament  is  of  the  same  type  as  in  the  earlier 
book. 

The  Rouen  Library  possesses  another  volume  of  the 
same  class  in  the  Missal  of  Robert  of  Jumieges.1  This 
manuscript,  executed  at  Winchester,  probably  at  New- 
minster,  about  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century, 
was  given  by  Robert  of  Jumieges,  when  Bishop  of 
London  (1044-51),  to  the  abbey  at  Jumieges,  of  which 
he  had  formerly  been  abbot.  It  contains  thirteen  full- 
page  miniatures,  enclosed  in  arches  or  rectangular  frames 
of  the  regular  Winchester  type,  besides  three  elaborately 
bordered  pages  at  the  beginning  of  the  Canon  of  the 
Mass.  The  art,  however,  is  decidedly  inferior  to  that  of 
the  two  Benedictionals.  Many  of  the  figures  are  so  thin 
as  to  be  almost  grotesque ;  and  the  ornamental  frames 
and  arches  tend  to  overload  the  page  and  to  detract  from, 
instead  of  enhancing,  the  effectiveness  of  the  picture 
enclosed.  In  the  Crucifixion  page,  particularly,  the  com- 
paratively small  and  insignificant  figure-composition  is 
completely  overweighted  by  the  magnificent  but  inappro- 
priate luxuriance  of  the  surrounding  border.  It  would 
seem,  in  fact,  as  though  this  initial  phase  of  the  Winches- 
ter school  had  already  reached  its  prime  before  the  end 
of  the  tenth  century,  and  had  at  once  (as  so  often  happens) 
begun  to  decay. 

The  excellence  and  shortcomings  of  Newminster  work 
at  this  period  are  well  shown,  again,  in  the  Gospels  of 
Trinity  College,  Cambridge,2  written  apparently  by  the 
same  scribe  as  the  Missal  just  mentioned,  and  decorated 
with  great  magnificence.  The  pages  devoted  to  the 
Eusebian  Canons  are  specially  splendid,  with  their  gilded 
columns  and  round,  triangular  or  trefoil  arches,  having 
angels,  saints,  peacocks,  dragons,  etc.,  in  the  tympana  and 
spandrels,  as  in  Carolingian  manuscripts  of  the  ninth 
century.  Each  Gospel  has  a  full-page  miniature  of  the 
Evangelist  and  an  elaborate  initial  page  of  text,  and  there 

1  Ed.  H.  A.  Wilson,  Henry  Bradshaw  Soc.,  1896  ;  Westwood,  pp.  156-8,  pi.  40. 

2  B.  10.  4.     See  Westwood,  p.  140,  pi.  42 ;  New  Pal.  Soc.,  pi.  u,  12. 

128 


ENGLISH    ILLUMINATION    TO    1200 

is  also  a  miniature  of  Christ  in  glory ;  all  these  enclosed 
in  rectangular  borders,  profusely  foliated,  and  mostly 
decorated  with  medallion  busts  of  saints  and  with  orna- 
mental corner-pieces.  Gold  is  lavishly  used,  and  the 
range  of  colours  is  wide,  especially  in  the  decorative 
frames,  which  are  almost  exaggeratedly  luxuriant,  giving 
the  book  a  rich,  even  gorgeous  effect.  But  a  less  attrac- 
tive side  is  shown  in  the  crumpled,  fluttering  draperies, 
so  unsuited  to  the  thick  opaque  medium  used  by  the 
Winchester  painters,  in  the  large  ill-drawn  hands  and 
feet,  in  the  inept  attempt  at  full-face  portraiture. 

By  the  end  of  the  tenth  century  the  art  of  illumina- 
tion had  begun  to  revive  in  other  places  besides  Winches- 
ter, though  the  Wessex  capital  continued  to  hold  the 
leading  place.  As  examples  of  work  done  elsewhere,  we 
may  mention  three  manuscripts,  now  in  the  British 
Museum,  which  there  is  good  reason  for  associating  with 
Christ  Church,  Canterbury.  The  first  of  these  is  the 
recently  acquired  Bosworth  Psalter,1  written  late  in  the 
tenth  century,  perhaps  during  the  archiepiscopate  of 
Dunstan  (959-88),  who  is  said  to  have  been  a  skilled 
painter  himself,2  and  who  doubtless  encouraged  the  deco- 
ration, as  well  as  the  transcription  and  study,  of  books. 
There  are  no  miniatures  in  the  Bosworth  Psalter,  but  the 
large  initials  of  Psalms  i,  li,  and  ci,  filled  with  interlaced 
foliage  and  adorned  with  dragons,  lions'  heads,  etc.,  are 
very  spirited  and  successful,  and  are  interesting  as  being 
among  the  earliest  examples  of  English  initial-ornament 
of  this  type.  The  second  manuscript,  Arundel  I55,3  is 
also  a  Psalter,  and  appears  to  have  been  written  at  Christ 
Church  between  1012  and  1023.  Like  the  tenth  century 
Harleian  Psalter,  No.  2904,  it  combines  outline  with  fully 
illuminated  work.  The  tables  which  follow  the  Calendar 

1  Add.  37517.    See  New  Pal.  Soc.,  pi.  163-4;  Warner,  Reproductions ;  iii,  5; 
F.  A.  Gasquet  and  E.  Bishop,  The  Bosworth  Psalter •,  1908. 

2  Two  miniatures  purporting  to  be  by  him  are  extant,  viz.  Bodl.  578,  f.  i,  at 
Oxford,  and  Claud.  A.  iii,  f.  8,  in  the  British  Museum.     See  Westwood,  pp.  125, 
126,  pi.  50. 

8  Warner,  Ilium.  MSS.,  pi.  10. 

9  129 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

are  set  in  arcades  outlined  in  red,  the  tympana  of  the  last 
two  (ff.  90,  10)  containing  partially  tinted  outline  scenes 
of  Pachomius  and  his  monks,  closely  allied  to  those 
described  at  the  end  of  chapter  vi  as  occurring  in  Calig. 
A.  xv,  a  manuscript  probably  emanating  from  the  neigh- 
bouring abbey  of  S.  Augustine.  On  f.  133,  again,  is  a 
representation  of  S.  Benedict  giving  his  rule  to  monks, 
partly  coloured  and  partly  left  in  outline.  The  principal 
feature  of  the  book,  however,  is  the  illuminated  initial 
and  border  decoration  of  Psalms  i,  li,  and  ci,  especially 
the  first,  which  has  a  frame  of  gold  bands  enclosing  and 
surrounded  by  foliage,  with  gold  quatrefoils  at  the  corners, 
and  an  initial  "  B "  obviously  modelled,  like  the  border, 
on  Winchester  work  of  the  tenth  century.  The  "  D"  of 
Psalm  ci  is  interesting  as  an  early  example,  in  English  art, 
of  the  historiated  initial ;  enclosing  a  crude  representa- 
tion of  David  beheading  Goliath. 

The  third  manuscript,1  a  copy  of  the  Latin  Gospels, 
early  eleventh  century,  is  also  decorated  in  the  Win- 
chester style ;  but  it  contains  an  inserted  copy  of  King 
Canute's  charter  to  Christ  Church,  Canterbury,  so  the 
natural  presumption  is  that  it  was  executed  in  the  latter 
place.  Its  illuminated  pages  (the  first  of  each  Gospel) 
have,  indeed,  a  heavy,  almost  sombre,  magnificence  very 
different  from  the  brightness  and  freedom  of  the  best 
productions  of  the  Newminster  artists.  The  gold  bands 
are  very  broad,  the  foliage  is  close-set  and  monotonous, 
and  the  general  effect  of  the  colouring  is  dull,  a  brownish 
tone  prevailing.  Here  again  is  a  historiated  initial,  the 
"  Q"  of  S.  Luke's  Gospel  being  filled  with  a  miniature  of 
Christ  in  glory. 

Another  Gospel-book  of  about  the  same  date,  also 
in  the  British  Museum  (Harl.  76),  deserves  mention  for 
the  excellence  and  variety  of  the  arcades  which  enclose 
the  Eusebian  Canons.  These  pages,  richly  gilt  and 
brightly  coloured,  are  very  effective,  with  angels,  saints, 
lions,  dragons,  etc.,  filling  the  spandrels  and  tympana. 

1  Roy.  i  D.  ix.     See  Warner,  Reproductions,  i,  6. 
130 


ENGLISH    ILLUMINATION    TO    1200 

The  manuscript  belonged  to  Bury  S.  Edmund's,  and  was 
perhaps  painted  there  ;  it  has  obvious  kinship  with  the 
Missal  of  Robert  of  Jumieges,  but  it  may  be  that  this 
only  illustrates  the  widespread  influence  of  the  Win- 
chester school. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century  that  school, 
as  exemplified  by  the  Missal  of  Robert  of  Jumi&ges,  was 
already  showing  signs  of  deterioration.  The  downward 
tendency,  however,  was  speedily  checked :  in  the  Grim- 
bald  Gospels,1  written  at  Newminster  early  in  the  century, 
we  have  a  charming  example  of  the  next  phase  in  the 
development  of  the  style.  The  portraits  of  seated  Evan- 
gelists, looking  up  to  their  emblems  for  inspiration, 
preserve  in  their  composition  some  faint  suggestion  of 
Byzantine  or  Carolingian  archetypes  ;  but  the  slender 
boyish  figures  and  crumpled  robes  have  not  much  in 
common  with  the  Greek  austerity  or  Teutonic  solidity 
of  these  remote  ancestors.  The  streaky  backgrounds  of 
earlier  Winchester  miniatures  are  abandoned  in  favour 
of  the  plain  vellum,  and  the  features  are  drawn  in  outline 
only.  But  the  elaborate  frames  do  all  that  is  necessary 
towards  richness  of  decoration  ;  especially  those  which 
surround  the  portrait  of  S.  John2  and  the  first  words 
of  his  Gospel,  which  are  an  interesting  departure  from 
the  usual  type  of  Winchester  ornament.  These  frames 
are  built  up  of  silver  panels,  with  gold  circles  at  the 
corners  and  centres.  The  three  topmost  circles  on 
the  miniature  page  contain  each  a  representation  of 
Christ  in  glory,  and  are  supported  by  exquisitely  drawn 
angels,  whose  outlines  are  quaintly  contrived  to  suggest 
the  foliate  ornament  of  the  conventional  border.  Four 
of  the  other  circles  contain  groups  of  adoring  saints ; 
in  that  beneath  the  Evangelist's  feet  two  angels  offer  up 
the  souls  of  the  departed  in  a  cloth.  The  panels  are 
filled  with  half-length  figures  of  adoring  kings.  The 
frame  of  the  text-page  is  similarly  constructed,  but  has 

1  Brit.  Mus.,  Add.  34890.    See  Warner,  Ilium.  MSS.,  pi.  9,  and  Reprod.,  i,  5. 

2  PI.  xv. 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

the  Madonna  and  Child  in  the  central  medallion  at  the 
top,  the  others  containing  angels  and  saints.  The  deli- 
cacy of  the  drawing,  particularly  of  the  angels,  which 
are  really  charming,  and  the  pleasing  colour-scheme, 
which  is  founded  on  blue  and  its  derivatives  and  uses 
silver  (now  tarnished,  alas  !)  as  well  as  gold  for  the  height- 
ening of  effect,  mark  out  the  Grimbald  Gospels  as  one 
of  the  finest  examples  of  eleventh  century  English  work. 
As  the  century  advanced  the  Winchester  illuminators 
turned  their  attention  to  the  decorative  rather  than  the 
illustrative  side  of  their  art — to  the  development  of  initial 
and  border  ornament  rather  than  to  improvement  in 
figure  composition  ;  that  is,  if  we  may  judge  by  a  Psalter 
in  the  British  Museum,1  written  at  Newminster  about 
1060.  Like  so  many  manuscripts  of  the  time,  it  com- 
bines outline-drawings  with  paintings  in  body-colour ; 
the  former  style  being  represented  by  the  signs  of  the 
zodiac,  excellently  drawn  in  red  outline  to  illustrate  the 
Calendar,  and  by  a  full-page  Crucifixion  in  black  outline, 
tinted  blue,  green,  and  red.  It  is  interesting  to  find  that 
the  composition  of  the  latter  is  practically  identical  with 
that  of  the  much  smaller  and  rather  earlier  drawing  in 
the  Newminster  Office  of  the  Holy  Cross,2  having  Sol 
and  Luna  above  the  arms  of  the  cross,  and  also  a  rarer 
feature,  the  Dextera  Domini  issuing  from  a  cloud  above 
the  head  of  Christ.  The  body-colour  illuminations  con- 
sist of  initials  and  borders  to  Psalms  i,  li,  and  ci,  and  a 
full-page  miniature  of  the  Crucifixion  opposite  Psalm  li. 
This  last,  painted  on  the  plain  vellum  ground,  within  an 
illuminated  frame-border,  is  of  a  most  unusual  type : 
the  emaciated,  ill-drawn  figure  of  Christ  is  flanked  by 
two  stiff,  mushroom-like  trees,  which  stand  in  the  posi- 
tions usually  assigned  to  the  Virgin  and  S.  John,  below 
the  arms  of  the  cross.  The  four  borders  show  consider- 
able variety  in  the  details  of  design.  That  of  Psalm  ci 

1  Arundel  60.     See  Westwood,   p.    121,  pi.  49;   Thompson,  p.  24,  pi.  7; 
Warner,  Ilium.  MSS.,  pi.  u,and  Reprod.,  ii,  7,  8. 

2  Tit.  D.  xxvii,  noticed  above,  p.  117. 

132 


the 


run 
Th 


PI.ATR  XV 


GRIMBALD    GOSPELS.    WINCHESTER.    X!TH   CENT. 

BRIT.    MUS.    ADD.    34890 


ENGLISH    ILLUMINATION    TO    1200 

sequent  readjustment  of  old  traditions  and  standards. 
The  first  shock  of  the  Norman  Conquest  was  well  over, 
and  the  Normanizing  of  English  civilization,  which  had 
begun  in  Edward  the  Confessor's  time,  was  fairly  com- 
plete. The  Crusades  were  beginning  to  bring  westward 
a  fuller  knowledge  of  Byzantine  and  Syrian  art.  In 
architecture,  the  Romanesque  was  at  its  last  and  most 
magnificent  period,  the  Gothic  was  about  to  be  born ; 
and  we  find,  as  might  be  expected,  some  reflection  of  this 
transitional  phase  in  the  minor  art  of  illumination.  The 
parallel,  indeed,  is  not  complete ;  but  both  arts  alike 
evolved  in  the  course  of  the  century  the  beginning  of 
the  pure  Gothic  style. 

Nearly  all  the  best  examples  of  English  illumination 
that  have  come  down  to  us  from  the  tenth  and  eleventh 
centuries  were  produced  at  Winchester.  But  this  ex- 
clusive predominance  now  comes  to  an  end,  and  in  the 
twelfth  century  we  find  well-established  schools  flourish- 
ing at  Durham,  Westminster,  Bury  S.  Edmund's,  and 
in  many  other  places.  At  the  very  beginning  of  the 
century,  in  fact,  the  last-named  school  is  represented  by 
a  series  of  thirty-two  full-page  miniatures  of  the  life, 
passion,  and  miracles  of  S.  Edmund,  prefixed  to  a  copy, 
apparently  of  slightly  later  date  (fire.  1125-50),  of  the 
text  which  they  illustrate.1  These  pictures  have  plenty 
of  graphic  force,  but  are  destitute  of  charm.  Particularly 
repellent  is  the  prevailing  type  of  face,  with  long  nose, 
receding  chin,  and  prominent  eyes.  There  is  no  attempt 
at  realistic  figure-drawing ;  impossibly  thin,  flat-chested 
bodies,  supported  by  immensely  long,  attenuated  legs, 
suggest  the  human  frame  well  enough  for  the  artist's 
purpose,  which  is  to  tell  his  story  with  unmistakable 
clearness,  and  which  (to  do  him  justice)  he  never  fails 
to  achieve.  Gold  is  used,  but  sparingly,  and  is  not  raised 
or  burnished  ;  the  colouring  generally  is  somewhat  harsh, 

1  This  very  interesting  manuscript  is  in  Sir  G.  L.  Holford's  library.  For 
description  and  reproductions  see  New  Pal.  Soc.,  pi.  113-15 ;  also  Burl.  F.A.  Club, 
No.  18,  pi.  23. 

135 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

and  the  choice  of  tints  quite  arbitrary — red,  green  or 
violet  horses  being  among  the  vagaries  met  with.  In 
the  text  are  some  excellent  examples  of  the  initial  orna- 
ment, the  development  of  which  formed  one  of  the  salient 
characteristics  of  twelfth  century  illumination  in  England, 
as  well  as  in  France,  Germany,  and  the  Low  Countries. 
The  chief  elements  of  this  ornament  are  scrolls  of  foliage, 
diversified  with  human,  animal,  and  monstrous  forms ; 
later  in  the  century  the  larger  initials  are  often  historiated, 
but  the  purely  decorative  designs  are  also  used  right  on 
through  the  thirteenth  century. 

Closely  related  to  the  miniatures  just  mentioned  are 
twelve  pages  of  Gospel  pictures  in  compartments,  prefixed 
to  a  New  Testament  which  formerly  belonged  to  Bury 
S.  Edmund's  and  was  doubtless  written  there,  and  which  is 
now  in  Pembroke  College,  Cambridge.1  These  are  outline- 
drawings,  partly  tinted,  and  are  mostly  on  a  much  smaller 
scale  than  the  paintings  in  Sir  G.  L.  Holford's  book  ;  but 
the  resemblance,  especially  in  the  facial  types,  is  so 
striking  as  almost  to  suggest  identity  of  hand.  It  is 
evident,  however,  that  these  mannerisms  were  distinctive 
of  English  painting  generally  at  this  period.  They  are 
to  be  seen  in  a  most  sumptuously  illuminated  Psalter, 
executed  at  S.  Alban's  during  the  time  of  Abbot  Geoffrey 
(1119-46),  and  now  at  S.  Godehard's  Church  in  Hilde- 
sheim.2  This  splendid  book  has  no  less  than  forty-two 
full-page  miniatures,  besides  a  great  wealth  of  initial 
ornament.  The  miniatures,  which  represent  the  Fall  of 
Man,  David  as  musician,  scenes  from  the  life  of  Christ, 
and  SS.  Martin  and  Alban,  are  framed  in  rectangular 
borders  of  meander,  leaf-moulding,  and  other  patterns. 
The  initials  are  filled  with  figures,  which  are  sometimes 
merely  fanciful,  boys  riding  on  monsters,  etc.,  but  more 
often  illustrate  passages  in  the  psalms  to  which  they  are 
prefixed.  There  is  great  freedom  and  variety  in  the 

1  No.  120.     See  M.  R.  James,   Cat.  of  the  MSS.  at  Pembroke  Coll,  1905, 
pp.  117-25  (two  plates);  Burl.  F.A.  Club,  No.  23,  pi.  28. 

2  See  Adolph  Goldschmidt,  Der  Albani- Psalter  in  Hildesheim,  1895. 

136 


ENGLISH    ILLUMINATION    TO    1200 

designs,  and  the  proportions  and  modelling  of  the  figure 
are  better  than  in  the  Life  of  S.  Edmund,  though  still  too 
thin  and  long-limbed.  The  faces  too  have  much  more 
individuality,  but  the  unlovely  types  of  the  Holford  and 
Pembroke  books  have  a  tendency  to  predominate  here  too. 
Henry  of  Blois,  brother  of  King  Stephen,  and  Bishop 
of  Winchester  from  1129  to  1171,  was  a  learned  and 
munificent  prelate,  a  liberal  patron  of  the  arts ;  and  it  is 
to  his  encouragement,  doubtless,  that  two  fine  examples 
of  Winchester  illumination  owe  their  existence.  Both 
were  executed,  apparently,  at  his  cathedral  priory  during 
his  episcopate,  and  one  of  them  still  belongs  to  the  Dean 
and  Chapter  of  Winchester,  but  the  other  passed  soon 
after  its  completion  into  the  possession  of  the  nuns  at 
Shaftesbury,  and  is  now  in  the  Cottonian  collection  at 
the  British  Museum.1  The  latter,  which  is  perhaps  the 
earlier  of  the  two  (probably  written  before  1161),  contains 
the  Psalter  in  Latin  and  French,  preceded  by  thirty-eight 
full-page  miniatures,  painted  on  backgrounds  of  deep  blue, 
most  of  which  has,  however,  been  scraped  or  washed  off, 
presumably  by  some  unscrupulous  artist  who  had  run 
short  of  that  pigment.  The  first  twenty-seven  and  the 
last  nine  represent  scenes  from  the  Bible ;  between  them 
are  two  paintings,  of  the  Assumption  and  Enthronement 
of  the  Virgin,  which,  though  apparently  part  of  the 
original  volume,  are  in  marked  contrast  with  the  rest, 
being  very  beautiful  examples  of  the  early  Italo-Byzantine 
manner,  both  in  design  and  colouring.  Sir  G.  Warner 
suggests  that  they  were  copied  from  Italian  pictures 
brought  over  by  Bishop  Henry,  who  is  said  to  have 
bought  works  of  art  during  his  visit  to  Rome  in  1151-2; 
if  so,  the  copyist  has  caught  the  spirit  of  his  original  with 
extraordinary  success — and  one  feels  almost  inclined  to 
suggest  instead  that  the  bishop  must  have  imported 
Italian  artists  too.  The  remaining  miniatures  in  Nero 
C.  iv  are  characteristically  English,  and  are  curious  and 

1  Nero  C.  iv.     See  Pal.  Soc.,  i,  124;  Thompson,  pp.   29-33,  P^  9  >  Warner, 
Ilium.  MSS.,  pi.  12,  and  Reprod.,  iii,  7-9. 

137 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

interesting  rather  than  beautiful.  The  fluttering  draperies 
of  the  earlier  Winchester  style  are  now  replaced  by 
garments  which  cling  closely  to  the  form.  The  pro- 
portions of  the  body  are  rather  bad ;  but  the  hair  and 
faces,  shaded  with  pale  sepia,  are  very  carefully  treated. 
Among  the  most  effective  miniatures  are  the  Jesse-tree, 
with  its  white  curling  tendrils ;  the  two  angels  with 
spreading  wings,  setting  up  the  cross  on  an  altar ;  and 
the  last  of  the  series,  an  angel  locking  the  door  of  the 
Jaws  of  Death  upon  the  damned,  who  are  tortured  in 
various  ways  by  sprightly,  gargoyle-like  fiends. 

Much  more  stately  is  the  second  of  these  two  Win- 
chester books:  a  magnificent  Bible,1  in  three  great 
volumes,  decorated  throughout  with  splendid  historiated 
initials  in  gold  and  colours,  and  with  two  full  pages  of 
outline-drawings.  Monumental  Bibles  were  evidently 
the  fashion  in  the  latter  half  of  the  twelfth  century :  of 
those  now  extant,  this  is  perhaps  the  finest ;  another  (to 
be  noticed  presently)  is  now  in  the  Bibliotheque  de  Ste. 
Genevieve  at  Paris ;  a  third  is  Bishop  Hugh  Pudsey's 
(1153-94),  at  Durham.  The  Winchester  Bible  is  believed 
to  be  the  one  which  King  Henry  II  borrowed  from 
S.  Swithin's  priory  and  then  presented  to  his  Carthusian 
foundation  at  Witham,  in  1173,  but  which  was  soon 
afterwards  restored  by  S.  Hugh,  then  Prior  of  Witham, 
to  its  rightful  owners.  Its  miniatures  have  much  in 
common  with  those  of  Nero  C.  iv:  the  same  clinging 
draperies,  the  same  grave,  solemn  faces.  The  art,  how- 
ever, is  of  a  much  higher  quality :  the  figures  are  well 
modelled  and  of  good  proportions,  the  grouping  often 
shows  a  fine  instinct  for  composition,  and  there  is  alto- 
gether a  much  more  perfect  finish.  These  differences 
unquestionably  bespeak  a  superior  artist ;  they  also  denote, 
probably,  a  slightly  later  date,  a  more  settled,  less  tentative 
phase  in  the  development  of  the  school.  The  colouring 
is  extraordinarily  rich  and  beautiful,  dark  tones  predomi- 
nating, especially  a  deep  blue.  The  framework  of  the 

1  See  Pal.  Soc.,  ii,  166-7 ;  Burl.  F.A.  Club,  No.  106,  pi.  78. 
138 


PLATE  XVI 


BIBLE.  ENGLISH,  XIIxH  CENT. 

WINCHESTER    CHAPTER    LIBRARY 


Utcu 

a  Hi 
trat 


the  fourtc 

alre 


PI.ATB  XVII 


LIFE  OF   ST  GUTHLAC.   ENGLISH,    LATE   Xllrti  CENT. 

BRIT.    MUS.    HARI.RV    ROLL   V   6 


CHAPTER  VIII 

GERMAN,   FRENCH,  AND  FLEMISH   ILLUMINATION, 

A.D.  900-1200 

THE  outburst  of  magnificent,  if  ungainly,  art  which 
had  characterized  the  Carolingian  period  declined 
towards  the  end  of  the  ninth  century.  The  chief 
centres  of  this  art,  as  we  saw  in  chapter  v,  were  in 
Northern  France  and  the  Franco-German  borderland : 
at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Tours,  Rheims.  But  the  troubled 
times  which  saw  the  decay  of  the  Carolingian  line  in 
France  were  unfavourable  to  artistic  activity,  and 
Germany  begins  now  to  take  the  leading  place,  especially 
during  the  brilliant  period  of  the  Ottonian  dynasty,  from 
the  accession  of  Otto  the  Great  in  936  to  the  death  of 
Henry  II,  the  Saint,  in  1024.  The  not  inaptly  so- 
called  Ottonian  Renaissance  doubtless  owed  much  to  the 
marriage  of  Otto  II,  in  972,  to  the  Byzantine  princess 
Theophano,  whether  she  actually  brought  Greek  artists 
in  her  train  or  only  paintings  and  other  objects  of  art 
from  the  Eastern  imperial  court ;  but  the  movement  had 
probably  begun  before  this  date.  Reichenau,  at  any  rate, 
on  Lake  Constance,  had  long  been  famous  as  a  school  of 
painters;  and  many  of  the  finest  Ottonian  illuminations, 
especially  the  earlier  ones,  emanate  from  this  centre. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  tenth  century  the  artistic  revival 
began  to  spread  northwards :  S.  Bernward,  Bishop  of 
Hildesheim  near  Hanover  (993-1022),  instituted  a  school 
of  illumination  and  metal-work  in  his  cathedral  city,  and 
the  Reichenau  influence  was  brought  to  Treves  by  Arch- 
bishop Egbert  (977-93).  The  Bavarian  schools  too, 
especially  that  of  Ratisbon,  began  to  flourish  about  the 

143 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

same  time  ;  throughout  Germany,  in  fact,  this  was  a  time 
of  great  energy  in  artistic  production,  though  the  result- 
ing achievements  were  for  the  most  part  (so  far  at  least  as 
miniature  is  concerned)  interesting  rather  than  beautiful. 
By  the  twelfth  century,  a  definite  style  with  well-developed 
decorative  features  was  thoroughly  established  in  Western 
and  Central  Europe ;  and  such  books  as  the  great  Bibles 
of  Worms,  Floreffe,  and  Arnstein,  and  that  lost  treasure- 
house  of  medieval  allegory,  the  Hortus  Deliciarum,  were 
preparing  the  way  for  the  exquisite  thirteenth  century 
Gothic  art  of  France  and  the  Low  Countries. 

Few  German  illuminated  manuscripts  remain  to  us 
from  the  first  half  of  the  tenth  century ;  and  these  few 
represent  the  decay  of  the  Carolingian  rather  than  the 
rise  of  any  new  progressive  style.  One  of  these  books, 
however,  must  be  mentioned,  though  its  claim  to  notice 
arises  less  from  its  intrinsic  merit  than  from  its  historical 
associations.  This  is  the  Gospel-book  of  King  Athel- 
stan,1  given  him  (as  the  inscription  "  Odda  rex,  Mihthild 
mater  regis"  seems  to  indicate)  by  Matilda,  widow  of 
Henry  the  Fowler,  and  her  son  Otto  the  Great  (who  had 
married  Athelstan's  sister  Edith  in  929),  between  Henry's 
death  in  936  and  Otto's  coronation  as  Emperor  in  962  ; 
and  afterwards  given  by  Athelstan  to  Christ  Church, 
Canterbury,  where  tradition  says  that  it  was  kept  for  use 
as  the  oath-book  at  the  coronation  of  the  English  kings. 
It  is  decorated  with  portraits  of  the  Evangelists,  arcades 
for  the  Eusebian  Canons,  and  large  ornamental  initials. 
Gold  and  silver,  the  former  edged  with  red,  are  profusely 
used  in  the  arcades  and  initials,  whose  style  is  best 
described  as  debased  Carolingian  ;  and  this  abundance 
of  the  precious  metals,  together  with  the  illustrious 
names  of  donors  and  recipient,  justifies  the  assumption 
that  the  book,  ugly  as  it  is,  may  be  taken  as  representative 
of  the  best  work  produced  in  the  "dark  age"  which  gave 
it  birth.  The  Evangelists  Mark,  Luke,  and  John — rather 
small  huddled  figures  painted  on  dull  green  backgrounds 

1  Brit.  Mus.,  Tib.  A.  ii,  described  in  Cat.  Anc.  MSS.,  ii,  pp.  35-7. 
14 


GERMAN    ILLUMINATION,    900-1200 

— show  traces  of  the  influence  of  the  ninth  century 
Rheims  school,  but  without  its  artistic  merit.  Their 
strong  flesh-tints  contrast  disagreeably  with  the  cold 
tones  of  their  draperies ;  their  huge  hands,  their  heads 
twisted  round  in  the  effort  to  gaze  upwards,  suggest  the 
incompetent  copyist  of  a  good  model.  The  Matthew 
miniature  is  quite  different  in  style  ;  with  its  thick  soft 
technique  and  pale  colouring,  it  represents  a  type  which 
afterwards  became  characteristic  of  one  branch  of  Otto- 
nian  art. 

The  Gregorian  Sacramentary  in  the  Heidelberg 
University  Library  (Sal.  ixb)  is  assigned  by  Dr.  A.  von 
Oechelhauser l  to  the  first  half  of  the  tenth  century  ;  but 
its  affinity  with  the  Gospel-book  at  Darmstadt  (Cod. 
I948)2,  executed  for  Gero,  Archbishop  of  Cologne  969-76, 
is  so  close  that  we  can  hardly  suppose  the  two  books  to 
be  at  all  widely  separated  in  point  of  age,  if  indeed  they 
are  not  actually  by  the  same  hand,  as  Janitschek  held 
them  to  be.  In  any  case,  the  Heidelberg  book  is  one  of 
the  earliest  extant  productions  of  the  great  Benedictine 
Abbey  at  Reichenau,  which,  as  we  have  said,  occupies  the 
foremost  place  in  the  history  of  German  tenth  century 
schools  of  painting.  The  style  of  the  Reichenau  artists, 
judged  by  existing  miniatures  and  by  the  wall-paintings 
discovered  there  in  i88o,3  seems  to  have  been  founded 
(as  to  iconography  and  types  of  figure-drawing)  on  Early 
Christian  models  of  the  Roman  type;  indirectly,  perhaps 
— for  Dr.  Haseloff4  sees  in  the  miniatures  only  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  tradition  of  the  "Ada-Gospels"  group 
of  Carolingian  illuminators.  But  a  new  feature  appears 

1  Die   Miniaturen   der    Universitats-Bibliothek   zu   Heidelberg,    pt.    i,    1887, 
PP-  4-55.  Pi-  1-8. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  14-16,  32-3,  pi.  9.     Haseloff,  Der  Psalter  Erzbischof  Egberts  von 
Trier,  Codex  Gertrudianus,  1901,  p.  119,  pi.  61  (2),  62. 

8  See  Kraus,  Geschichte  d.  chr.  Kunst,  ii,  i,  fig.  28-35. 

4  For  the  subject  of  the  present  chapter,  see  his  articles  in  Michel,  Hist. 
deCArt,  i,  ii,  714-37,  744-55,  ii,  i,  297-309,  320-9;  and,  for  a  more  detailed 
study  of  Ottoman  illumination,  his  masterly  introduction  to  the  Codex  Gertru- 
dianus. 

10  145 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

in  the  patterned  backgrounds  introduced  into  some  of 
the  pages  of  Reichenau  manuscripts  and  their  derivatives ; 
the  patterns  used  are  either  geometrical  designs  or  else 
forms  of  birds  or  monsters,  and  were  probably  suggested 
by  tile-work  or  textile  fabrics — in  neither  case  do  they 
improve  the  pictorial  effect  in  figure-scenes,  but  when 
confined  to  the  purely  decorative  pages  they  are  less 
inappropriate. 

In  the  Heidelberg  Sacramentary  these  tendencies  are 
already  prominent.  Its  two  full-page  miniatures,  of 
Christ  and  the  Virgin,  each  enthroned  within  a  circular 
border  filled  with  the  common  Carolingian  device  of 
semicircles  arranged  mosaic-wise,  have  the  hard,  clumsy 
figures  of  mediocre  Carolingian  painting ;  but  the  beard- 
less, long-haired,  almost  feminine-looking  Christ  is  of 
the  type  characteristic  alike  of  Early  Christian  (fourth  to 
fifth  centuries)  fresco  and  of  Ottonian  illumination.  The 
"Vere  dignum"  page,  within  a  frame  of  Carolingian 
meander,  has  its  background  diapered  with  a  repeat- 
pattern  of  crosses  and  rosettes,  in  true  Reichenau  style ; 
a  much  less  pleasing  background,  of  horizontal  bands  of 
green  and  blue,  disfigures  the  "Te  igitur"  page,  and 
occasionally  reappears  in  other  Ottonian  manuscripts  ;  on 
these  two  pages  and  elsewhere  throughout  the  book  are 
initials  of  intertwined  branch-and-leaf  work,  which  tends 
to  curl  about  itself  in  the  characteristic  German  manner. 
We  have  here,  in  fact,  an  almost  complete  epitome  of  the 
Ottonian  style,  already  distinct  from  the  great  mass  of 
Franco-German  work  of  the  ninth  century. 

Closely  allied  to  the  Heidelberg  manuscript  are  the 
Gero  Gospels  at  Darmstadt,  mentioned  above,  and  the 
Reichenau  Sacramentary  at  Florence.1  The  former  re- 
peats the  miniature  of  Christ  in  a  circular  glory  with 
hardly  a  variation,  except  for  a  slightly  improved 
technique.  The  latter  has  no  miniatures,  but  its  deco- 
rative pages  are  covered  with  geometrical  repeat-patterns, 
or  with  the  beasts  and  long-tailed  birds  which  the 

1  Haseloff,  Cod.  Gerlr.,  pp.  115-17*  pi.  59>  6o- 
146 


GERMAN    ILLUMINATION,    900-1200 

Reichenau  painters  borrowed,  probably,  from  Oriental 
silks.  Precisely  similar  backgrounds  appear  on  almost 
all  the  illuminated  pages1  of  the  Psalter  at  Cividale, 
which  was  executed  for  Egbert,  the  great  Archbishop 
of  Treves  (977-93),  but  which  is  usually  known  as  the 
Codex  Gertrudianus  from  the  insertions  made  in  the 
eleventh  century  by  a  Russian  lady  named  Gertrude. 
At  the  beginning  of  this  book  are  four  pages  depicting 
its  presentation  by  Ruodpreht  (presumably  the  scribe  or 
illuminator)  to  Archbishop  Egbert,  and  its  dedication  by 
him  to  S.  Peter.  The  remaining  miniatures  represent 
fourteen  of  Egbert's  predecessors,  each  standing  in  the 
orans  attitude,  and  are  interspersed  throughout  the 
Psalter,  opposite  fully  illuminated  initial  pages  wrhich 
match  them  as  to  border  and  background.  The  initials 
are  more  pronouncedly  Ottonian  than  in  the  Heidelberg 
Sacramentary,  the  leaf-terminals  being  now  replaced  by 
little  round  knobs.2 

The  Reichenau  school  reached  its  culminating  point 
in  another  of  Archbishop  Egbert's  books,  the  Codex 
Egberti  par  excellence:  a  Gospel-lectionary,  now  in  the 
public  library  at  Treves,3  which  was  executed  for  him 
by  the  monks  Keraldus  and  Heribertus.  A  purple  dedi- 
cation page  at  the  beginning  shows  these  two,  shrunk  in 
modesty  to  diminutive  proportions,  offering  the  book  to 
the  majestic  prelate,  who  sits  towering  above  them  in 
dignity.  The  portraits  of  the  Evangelists  follow,  painted 
on  backgrounds  filled  with  geometrical  patterns  like 
those  in  the  Psalter,  and  with  their  emblems  above  their 
heads ;  but  otherwise  adhering  closely  to  Byzantine 
models,  both  in  the  simplicity  of  the  compositions  and 
in  the  grave,  thoughtful,  ascetic  type  of  face.  But  it  is 
the  fifty-one  miniatures  illustrating  the  Gospel-lessons 
which  give  the  book  its  exceptional  interest  and  value. 

1  These  are  all  reproduced  in  the  elaborate  and  profusely  illustrated  mono- 
graph by  Sauerland  and  Haseloff,  referred  to  above,  p.  145. 

2  See  pi.  xix. 

3  Kraus,  Die  Miniaturen  des  Codex  Egberti  in  der  Stadtbibl  zu  Trier •,  1884. 

147 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

These  are  framed  in  rectangular  bands  with  no  ornament 
beyond  a  simple  lozenge-pattern,  and  mostly  occupy  half- 
page  spaces  in  the  text ;  where  they  fill  the  whole  page, 
they  often  contain  two  scenes  with  differently  coloured 
backgrounds,  but  without  formal  partition.1  In  such 
details  as  these,  and  still  more  in  the  whole  spirit  and 
manner  of  the  paintings  themselves,  they  recall  vividly 
the  Vatican  Virgil  and  the  Quedlinburg  Itala,  and  show 
quite  unmistakably  the  influence  of  Early  Christian  art 
of  the  fourth  or  fifth  century :  the  spaciousness  of  the 
compositions ;  the  lightness  and  freedom  of  the  style ; 
the  slender,  expressive  figures,  distinctly  reminiscent  of 
antique  grace ;  the  softly  shaded  backgrounds.  The 
range  of  subjects  includes  many  that  are  new  to  Prankish 
painting ;  though  we  know  from  the  sixth  century 
mosaics  of  S.  Apollinare  Nuovo  at  Ravenna  that  they 
had  long  been  used  by  artists  of  the  Italo-Byzantine 
school.  It  is  curious  that  in  these  same  mosaics  we 
recognize  the  youthful  long-haired  Christ  of  the  Codex 
Egberti  and  other  Ottonian  illuminations. 

The  pre-eminence  of  the  Reichenau  scriptorium  at 
this  time  may  be  gauged  by  the  fact  that  Pope  Gregory  V 
(996-9)  granted  special  privileges  to  the  abbey  in  ex- 
change for  liturgical  manuscripts  to  be  supplied  to  Rome. 
Its  artists  were  commissioned  by  Egbert,  as  we  have 
seen,  to  enrich  his  library  at  Treves ;  and  their  influence 
was  undoubtedly  felt  in  the  monastic  schools  of  illumina- 
tion which  were  now  springing  up  in  all  parts  of 
Germany.  Whether  executed  in  Reichenau  or  elsewhere, 
the  Gospels  of  the  Emperor  Otto  (apparently  Otto  III, 
crowned  by  Gregory  V  996,  died  1002)  in  the  cathedral 
at  Aix-la-Chapelle2  have  many  features  in  common  with 
the  books  which  we  have  been  discussing.  The  Evan- 
gelist types  are  very  like  those  of  the  Codex  Egberti ;  the 
beardless,  long-haired  Christ  is  quite  of  the  Reichenau 
type  ;  and  there  is  a  certain  flavour  of  Early  Christian 

1  See  pi.  xviii. 

2  Beissel,  Die  Bilder  der  Hs.  des  Kaisers  Otto  im  Munster  zu  Aachen,  1886. 

148 


i88< 


PLATE  XVIII 


CODEX   EGBERTI.   977-9^ 

TR1KK.    STAnTBIBLIOTHEK 


GERMAN    ILLUMINATION,    900-1200 

giving  them  a  tendency  to  flutter  in  a  way  suggestive 
of  the  contemporary  Winchester  mannerism.  Both  faults 
appear  in  the  miniature  of  the  Angel  and  the  Shepherds, 
together  with  ungainly  posing,  absurd  proportions  (es- 
pecially the  ridiculous  little  horses — instead  of  the  usual 
sheep — grazing  in  the  foreground).  An  unusual  feature 
is  the  landscape  of  boulders,  which  is  probably  derived, 
along  with  the  tightly  clinging  draperies  and  some  details 
of  composition,  from  Byzantine  paintings  of  the  tenth 
century. 

One  of  the  most  important  artistic  centres  in  Germany 
at  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century  was  Hildesheim, 
where  a  great  revival  of  ecclesiastical  art — especially  in 
metal-work,  enamels,  and  illumination — took  place  under 
the  auspices  of  S.  Bernward,1  who  reigned  there  as  bishop 
from  993  to  1022.  A  friend  of  the  Empress  Theophano, 
and  tutor  to  her  young  son  Otto  III,  he  had  enjoyed 
special  opportunities  for  studying  all  that  was  best  in 
European  art  of  the  time  ;  and  the  school  which  he 
established  in  his  cathedral  city  shows  something  of  the 
eclecticism  which  might  naturally  be  expected.  The 
tradition  that  he  was  himself  a  miniaturist  seems  to 
have  no  foundation  ;  but  many  of  the  books  that  were 
executed  for  him  are  still  preserved  in  Hildesheim 
Cathedral.  The  most  noteworthy  of  these  are  a  Gospel- 
book2  and  a  Sacramentary,  the  former  probably  and  the 
latter  certainly  the  work  of  Guntbald  the  Deacon,  who 
wrote  another  Gospel-book,  less  richly  ornamented,  in 
ion  ;  also  a  Bible,  written  about  1015,  with  an  elaborate 
and  interesting  frontispiece.  In  these  manuscripts  the 
Reichenau  fashion  of  filling  the  backgrounds  with  a 
repeat-pattern  is  adopted,  but  with  a  difference :  the 
patterns  seem  founded  less  on  textile  designs  than  on 
those  found  in  champleve  enamel,  though  there  is  no 
evidence  that  BernwarcTs  craftsmen  actually  practised  the 

1  See  Beissel,  Derhl.  Bernwardvon  Hildesheim  als  Kiinstler  und  Forderer  der 
deutschen  Kunst>  1895. 

2  Beissel,  Des  hi  Bernward  Evangelienbuch  im  Dome  zu  Hildesheim,  1891. 

151 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

latter  art.  The  whole  technique  of  his  books  suggests 
indeed,  by  its  severity  and  disposition  of  line,  its  lack 
of  perspective  and  modelling,  its  rigid,  non-realistic 
rendering  of  the  human  form,  an  acquaintance  with  the 
arts  of  metal-work  and  enamelling  rather  than  the  more 
plastic  ideals  proper  to  the  miniaturist.  This  predilection 
for  conventional  forms  is  joined,  however,  to  an  elaborate 
and  sometimes  impressive  symbolism,  e.g.  in  the  Cruci- 
fixion miniature  of  the  great  Gospel-book,  where  Christ's 
feet  rest  on  the  emblem  of  S.  Luke  (the  Evangelist  whose 
narrative  is  being  illustrated,  and  who  appears  himself, 
writing  his  Gospel,  in  the  lower  compartment  of  the  same 
page),  and  where  Terra  and  Oceanus,  as  well  as  the  more 
usual  Sol  and  Luna,  look  on  in  astonishment.  This 
antique  idea  of  the  amazed  Earth  and  Ocean  before  the 
divine  power  is  used  again  with  fine  effect  in  the  minia- 
ture of  the  Incarnation,  prefixed  to  S.  John's  Gospel. 
Above,  in  the  firmament  of  heaven,  God  sits  enthroned 
on  the  globe,  holding  the  Agnus  Dei  and  the  Book  of 
Life,  a  six- winged  seraph  on  either  side ;  below  His  feet 
the  Child  in  a  manger-cot  hangs  suspended  from  a  star, 
while  Terra  and  Oceanus,  classical  half-draped  figures, 
raise  themselves  to  gaze  up  in  wonder. 

S.  Bernward's  Gospel-book  was  probably  written 
between  1011  and  1014;  his  Sacramentary  is  slightly 
later,  and  shows  distinct  signs  of  development  in  its 
one  miniature,  a  Crucifixion  prefixed  to  the  Canon  of  the 
Mass,  with  the  opening  words  "  Te  igitur  "  embodied  in 
the  design,  the  "T"  forming  the  cross,  with  elaborately 
plaited  terminals.  The  figure-drawing  is  much  less 
flat  and  rigid,  though  the  aim  is  still  symbolical  and 
decorative  rather  than  realistic.  The  effect  is  unfortun- 
ately marred  by  the  striped  background — an  ugly  device 
which  also  disfigures  many  pages  in  the  Gospel-book. 

A   much  higher  degree   of  technical  perfection   was 

reached   by   the  contemporary   artists   of    the  Bavarian 

schools ;    especially   at    Ratisbon,    as    the   famous   Uta- 

codex  witnesses.     This  manuscript,  now  in  the  Munich 

152 


incu 


PLATE  XIX 


PSALTER  OF  EGBERT,  ARCHBISHOP  OF  TRIER,  977-993 

CIV1OALK,  CODEX  GERTRUDIANUS 


GERMAN    ILLUMINATION,    900-1200 

the  end  of  the  century  for  the  Premonstratensian  abbey 
of  Arnstein,  near  Coblentz,  and,  with  two  other  twelfth 
century  books  from  the  same  foundation — a  Passionale 
(Harl.  2800-2)  and  a  copy  of  Rabanus  De  Laudibus 
S.  Crucis  (Harl.  3045) — ,forms  a  valuable  monument  of 
this  great  period  of  Rhenish  art.  The  Bible  and  the 
Passionale  have  a  long  series  of  very  fine  initials  of 
white  foliated  branch-work,  outlined  in  red  upon  soft 
blue  and  green  fields.  Dragons  and  birds  are  often 
added  to  the  intertwining  stems  and  leaves,  and  form 
effective  head  and  tail-pieces  to  the  letters.  Human 
figures  too  are  sometimes  introduced  as  part  of  the 
decorative  scheme.  The  second  volume  of  the  Bible  is 
more  richly  illuminated  than  the  first,  having  great 
initials  in  gold,  silver,  and  colours  prefixed  to  Proverbs 
and  to  each  of  the  Gospels ;  these  initials  are  similar  to 
the  rest  in  general  plan,  but  contain  in  addition  large 
figures  of  Solomon  and  the  Evangelists  writing,  with 
smaller  half-length  allegorical  figures  in  medallions. 
The  colouring  is  much  more  harmonious  in  tone  than 
that  of  the  Worms  Bible,  and  the  technique  far  less 
harsh.  The  De  Laudibus  S.  Crucis,  besides  richly 
illuminated  initials  in  silver,  gold,  and  colours,  has 
several  pages  filled  with  curious  mystical  diagrams,  which 
have  no  interest  from  the  purely  artistic  point  of  view, 
but  are  enclosed  in  border-frames  decorated  with  various 
repeat-patterns  in  red  outline  on  blue  and  green  grounds  ; 
the  great  feature  of  the  book  is  the  depth  and  warmth  of 
the  colouring  in  the  initials. 

The  curious  symbolism  of  this  last-named  book  links 
it  with  a  far  more  beautiful  and  celebrated  manuscript, 
now  unhappily  destroyed :  the  Hortus  Deliciarum,  com- 
posed, written,  and  illuminated  by  Herrad  von  Landsperg, 
Abbess  of  Hohenburg  in  Alsace,  1167-95,  for  the  edifica- 
tion and  delectation  of  her  nuns.  This  great  and  unique 
work,  with  all  its  wealth  of  miniatures,  was  burnt  at 
Strassburg  during  the  siege  of  1870.  Fortunately,  copies 
had  previously  been  made  of  several  of  the  miniatures, 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

and  these  have  been  published  by  the  Society  for  the 
Preservation  of  the  Historical  Monuments  of  Alsace.1  The 
book  was  a  sort  of  encyclopaedia  of  religious  and  philo- 
sophical knowledge,  illustrated  by  paintings  of  scriptural, 
symbolical,  and  other  subjects.  These  show  a  largeness 
and  originality  of  conception  which  the  navvetd  of  the 
drawing  could  not  conceal. 

In  Germany,  as  elsewhere,  the  monastic  scriptoria 
were  not  given  up  exclusively  to  the  transcription  and 
embellishment  of  religious  books.  A  vernacular  literature 
was  growing,  which  demanded  its  copyists  and  illustrators. 
Shortly  before  the  year  1200  there  was  made,  in  a  Bavarian 
monastery,  a  copy  of  Heinrich  von  Veldegke's  Eneidt,  a 
free  German  paraphrase  of  Virgil's  epic.  This  manuscript, 
now  in  the  Berlin  Library,2  is  illustrated  with  seventy-one 
fine  drawings  in  red  and  black  outline,  on  panelled 
grounds  of  crimson,  blue,  green  or  buff.  The  scenes, 
in  spite  of  faulty  technique,  are  full  of  action :  feasts  and 
battles,  ships,  castles,  armed  knights,  fill  the  pages  with 
a  riot  of  chivalry  delightful  in  itself,  though  having  little 
relation  to  the  dignities  of  the  antique  world. 

Not  much  need  be  said  about  French  or  Flemish 
illumination  during  the  period  dealt  with  in  this  chapter. 
The  art  was  almost  paralysed  by  the  constant  strife  and 
disorder  which  accompanied  the  decline  and  extinction 
of  the  Carolingian  dynasty,  and  which  by  no  means 
ceased  with  the  conversion  of  the  Counts  of  Paris  into 
nominal  Kings  of  France  ;  and  its  recovery  was  doubtless 
retarded,  and  its  progress  checked,  by  the  puritanical 
tendencies  of  the  Cistercian  Order,  which,  founded  at  the 
end  of  the  eleventh  century,  spread  with  such  amazing 
rapidity  in  the  next  century  under  S.  Bernard,  especially 
in  France,  the  land  of  its  birth.  The  S.  Omer  Psalter 
at  Boulogne,  written  989-1008,  has  already  been  men- 

1  Herrade  dc  Landsberg,  Hortus  Delidarum^  ed.  G.  Keller,  1901.    See  too,  for 
reproductions  in  colour,  Horfus  Deliciarum  dc  Herrade  de  Landsperg,  Paris,  1877. 

2  MS.  germ.  fol.  282.      See  F.   Kugler,  Die  Bilderhs.  der  Eneidt  [1834]; 
Janitschek,  pp.  113-15. 

I56 


FLEMISH    ILLUMINATION,    900-1200 

tioned  in  chapter  vi,  as  showing  the  close  connection 
between  English  and  North  French  work  at  that  time ; 
and  the  same  interdependence  appears  half  a  century 
later  in  a  Gallican  Missal,  written  probably  for  some 
church  in  the  north  of  France,  and  now  in  Mr.  Yates 
Thompson's  library.1  The  miniatures  in  this  manuscript, 
though  less  thickly  painted  and  more  subdued  in  colour- 
ing, show  a  strong  resemblance  to  those  in  contemporary 
manuscripts  produced  in  Southern  England  ;  especially 
in  the  draperies,  the  elongated  fingers,  and  in  the  border 
decoration  of  frames  filled  with  leaf-moulding  and  set 
with  rosettes  and  medallions. 

An  important  school  of  writing  and  illumination 
existed  from  early  times  in  the  Benedictine  abbey  of 
Stavelot  or  Stablo  in  Belgium,  many  of  whose  manu- 
scripts have  found  their  way  to  the  British  Museum. 
Among  these  is  a  tenth  century  Missal  (Add.  16605), 
whose  decoration  shows  the  continuance,  rather  than 
development,  of  the  Franco-Saxon  style.  It  has  no 
figure-compositions,  only  a  few  initials  in  gold  and 
colours,  and  four  pages  of  the  Canon  (Preface,  Te  igitur, 
and  Paternoster)  written  in  silver  uncials  on  a  purple 
ground,  with  large  interlaced  initials  in  gold,  green,  and 
white ;  the  first  two  enclosed  in  frames  whose  panel 
and  corner  ornaments,  like  the  whole  of  the  decorative 
scheme,  are  quite  in  the  manner  of  the  S.  Denis  school. 
A  Psalter  from  the  same  abbey,  also  of  the  tenth  century 
(Add.  18043),  shows  no  trace  of  this  influence,  and  is 
more  nearly  allied  to  the  Boulogne  Psalter,  so  far  as 
one  may  judge  by  the  brightly  yet  softly  coloured  pages, 
with  gold  and  red  plait-work  initials  enclosing  quaint 
little  figures,  prefixed  to  Psalms  li  and  ci;  the  initial-page 
of  Psalm  i — doubtless  the  most  elaborate  of  the  three — 
has  unluckily  been  cut  out. 

Better  known,  and  more  significant  for  the  student  of 
illumination,  is  the  great  Stavelot  Bible  (Add.  28106-7), 

1  No.  69.  See  Illustrations  of  zoo  MSS.  in  the  Library  of  H.  Y.  Thompson, 
i,  1907,  pi.  1-3. 

157 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

in  two  huge  volumes,  written  by  the  monks  Goderannus 
and  Ernestus  in  1093-7  J  tne  precursor  of  the  series 
which  includes  the  Winchester,  Worms,  and  Arnstein 
Bibles.  Its  illumination  consists  of  large  historiated  or 
decorated  initials  to  the  several  books;  an  "  In  principio" 
series  of  medallion-scenes  from  Genesis  and  the  life  of 
Christ,  enclosed  in  an  ornamental  frame  and  rilling  the 
first  column  of  the  book  of  Genesis  ;  Canon-arcades  of  no 
particular  merit  or  interest ;  and  one  full-page  miniature. 
This  last,  representing  Christ  in  glory,  surrounded  by  the 
emblems  of  the  Evangelists  in  medallions,  and  enclosed 
in  a  frame  filled  with  a  meander  pattern,  is  thoroughly 
Carolingian  in  spirit,  and  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  the 
immense  size  of  the  central  figure.  The  initials  vary 
considerably :  most  of  those  which  are  merely  decorated 
with  branching  scroll-work  (sometimes  with  animal  forms 
entangled  in  the  foliage),  as  well  as  some  of  those  enclos- 
ing miniatures,  are  comparatively  coarse.  But  many  of 
those  in  the  first  volume  contain  illustrations  in  which 
the  figures  are  drawn  in  outline  and  left  wholly  or 
partially  uncoloured ;  and  these  are  for  the  most  part 
drawn  with  much  delicacy,  expressiveness,  and  even 
charm.  Especially  good  are  the  miniatures  prefixed  to 
Exodus,  Judges,  and  the  first  and  second  books  of  Kings; 
David  beheading  Goliath,  in  the  last  of  these,  is  the  very 
embodiment  of  youthful  grace  and  energy. 

Another  Belgian  monastery  which  has  contributed 
largely  to  the  British  Museum  Library  is  the  Premon- 
stratensian  abbey  of  S.  Mary  De  Parco,  near  Louvain. 
Its  Bible,  written  in  1148  in  three  large  volumes  (Add. 
14788-90),  has  only  one  full-page  illumination,  a  very 
elaborate  design  prefixed  to  Genesis  and  containing  the 
words  of  the  first  verse:  Christ  in  glory  in  the  centre, 
scenes  from  Genesis  in  medallions  round  the  frame ;  the 
interspaces  filled  with  foliate  scroll-work,  birds,  archers, 
etc.  Gold  and  silver  are  freely  used,  and  the  colouring 
is  warm  and  rich,  so  that  the  total  decorative  effect  is 
splendid,  despite  a  certain  coarseness  in  the  figure-drawing. 
158 


FLEMISH    ILLUMINATION,    900-1200 

The  initials  sometimes  contain  figures,  but  are  for  the 
most  part  merely  handsome  examples  of  the  current 
decorative  style,  being  made  of  plaited  gold  ribbons 
placed  on  a  coloured  field  and  entwined  with  white  vine- 
stems,  or  else  of  coloured  foliations  on  a  gold  ground. 
Dragons  are  used  for  the  tails  of  letters,  and  the  white 
vine-branches  are  finely  patterned  with  red  and  green 
pen-work. 

The  initials  of  the  great  two-volume  Bible  from 
Floreffe  Abbey,1  near  Namur,  written  about  1160,  are  of 
a  simpler  character.  They  are  of  the  usual  scroll  and 
dragon  type,  very  finely  drawn  in  red  and  black  outline, 
with  great  elaboration  of  detail,  but  without  any  illumina- 
tion properly  so  called.  The  miniatures,  which  occur  in 
the  second  volume  only,  are  brilliant  in  colour  but  rather 
hard  in  technique.  The  subjects  are  mystical  and  alle- 
gorical :  the  sacrifices  of  the  Old  and  New  Dispensations, 
the  theological  and  cardinal  virtues,  etc.  Despite  its 
faults  of  hardness  and  flatness,  this  book  with  its  neat 
execution  and  its  slender,  almost  Gothic  figures,  shows 
that  Flemish  painting  had  by  this  time  reached  at  least 
as  high  a  level  as  that  of  the  contemporary  German 
schools. 

1  Brit.  Mus.,  Add.  17737-8.  See  Warner,  Ilium.  MSS.,  pi.  15,  and  Reprod., 
iii,  10 ;  Pal.  Soc.,  i,  213. 


159 


CHAPTER  IX 
ITALIAN  ILLUMINATION  BEFORE  1300 

THE  materials  for  an  orderly  and  consecutive 
history  of  early  Italian  illumination  can  hardly  be 
said  to  exist ;  here,  at  any  rate,  only  the  slightest 
sketch  can  be  attempted.  That  Byzantine  influence  pre- 
dominated until  well  on  in  the  Middle  Ages  need  scarcely 
be  stated  ;  it  has  already  been  pointed  out,  in  chapter  iii, 
that  many  Greek  manuscripts  were  written  in  Italy,  and 
illuminated  in  a  manner  not  to  be  distinguished  from 
that  of  Byzantine  painters.  There  can  be  little  doubt, 
however,  that  illuminators  working  in  Rome,  Naples,  and 
other  Italian  cities  were  also  influenced  by  what  they  saw 
of  wall-paintings,  mosaics,  and  other  monuments  of  Late 
Classical  and  Early  Christian  art.  The  seventh  century 
Latin  Gospels  at  Cambridge,1  for  instance,  afford  some 
evidence  of  this.  This  book  belonged  to  S.  Augustine's, 
Canterbury,  at  least  as  early  as  the  ninth  century,  and  it 
is  highly  probable  that  it  came  originally  from  Italy, 
perhaps  from  Rome  itself.  Its  two  remaining  pages  of 
illumination  show  little  trace  of  Byzantine  influence, 
except  indirectly  in  the  composition  of  S.  Luke  seated 
within  an  alcove ;  the  additional  figure  of  his  emblem  in 
the  tympanum  is  most  likely  an  Italian  invention,2  and 
the  little  scenes  from  the  life  of  Christ  are  essentially 
Western  in  iconography  and  debased  Roman  in  manner. 
Corroborative  evidence  may  be  deduced  from  the  painting 
of  David  and  his  musicians  in  the  Canterbury  Psalter,3 

1  Corpus  Christi  College,  No.  286.     See  Pal.  Soc.^  i,  33,  34,  44,  and  for 
coloured   reproductions    J.    Goodwin,  Evangelia    Augustini    Gregoriana^    1847 
(Cambridge  Ant.  Soc.,  No.  13),  pi.  6,  7. 

2  See  above,  p.  62. 

8  Brit.  Mus.,  Vesp.  A.  i,  noticed  above,  p.  86. 
1 60 


ITALIAN    ILLUMINATION    BEFORE    1300 

which  combines  Celtic  ornament  with  Classical  com- 
position, the  latter  almost  certainly  based  on  an  Italian 
original  of  the  seventh  century  or  earlier. 

In  Northern  Italy,  overrun  as  it  constantly  was  by 
invading  hordes,  Byzantine  and  Roman  influence  de- 
clined in  art  as  in  politics ;  and  the  few  extant  examples 
of  the  book-decoration  practised  in  those  troublous  ages 
have  a  barbaric  stamp  plainly  marked  upon  them.  The 
outline-sketches  which  adorn  (?)  the  fifth-seventh  century 
Psalter  at  Verona1  are  too  rude  to  deserve  the  name  of 
art.  More  ambitious  are  the  paintings  of  the  famous 
Ashburnham  Pentateuch,2  now  in  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationale  at  Paris  (nouv.  acq.  lat.  2334),  which  were 
probably  executed  in  North  Italy  towards  the  end  of  the 
seventh  century.  The  title-page,  with  its  peacocks, 
looped-back  curtains,  and  resetted  arch,  is  of  the  ordin- 
ary Byzantine  type ;  but  formal  regularity  and  adherence 
to  convention  appear  only  in  this  design.  The  illustrative 
miniatures,  on  the  contrary,  are  graphic  and  forcible,  but 
crude  almost  to  barbarism.  Crowded  scenes  jostle  one 
another,  often  without  partition,  filling  up  the  page 
regardless  of  composition  or  artistic  effect.  The  figures 
are  vigorous  and  expressive,  but  have  no  suggestion  of 
grace  or  dignity,  and  the  heads  are  much  too  big.  In 
fact,  if  these  pictures  are  indebted  to  Byzantine  art  at  all, 
it  is  to  Byzantine  art  of  the  untutored  kind  represented 
by  the  Vienna  Genesis.  The  painter  is  at  his  best  in 
pastoral  scenes,  e.g.  Adam  and  Cain  ploughing;  his 
drawing  of  plants  and  animals  is  far  in  advance  of  his 
mastery  of  the  art  of  picture-making.  On  the  whole, 
this  manuscript,  interesting  and  valuable  in  itself, 
occupies  an  almost  isolated  position  in  the  history  of  art, 
and  has  little  relation  to  the  subsequent  development  of 
Italian  illumination. 

1  A.    Goldschmidt,     "Die     altesten     Psalterillustrationen,"    in    Repert,  f. 
Kunstwissenschaftt  xxiii,  pp.  265-73. 

2  O.  von  Gebhardt,    The  Miniatures  of  the  Ashburnham  Pentateuch,   1883; 
Pal.  Soc.,  i,  234-5. 

II  161 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

In  such  places  as  the  famous  Chapter  Library  at 
Verona,  examples  may  be  seen  of  Italian  illumination 
between  the  eighth  and  eleventh  centuries ;  but  these 
(setting  aside  the  direct  copies  of  Byzantine  manuscripts, 
to  which  allusion  was  made  just  now)  have  few  of  the 
characteristics  which  one  would  expect  to  find  in  the 
native  country  of  antique  Roman  art.  They  appear 
crude  and  barbarous  when  compared  with  the  best  work 
of  contemporary  Carolingian,  Ottonian,  and  Early  English 
illuminators ;  and  a  national  Italian  style  can  hardly  be 
said  to  have  evolved  itself  before  the  twelfth  century.  In 
monasteries  like  Bobbio,  founded  by  Irish  missionaries, 
Celtic  influence  appears,  not  only  in  illuminations  directly 
copied  from,  or  at  least  founded  on,  Irish  models,  but 
also  in  the  blending  of  Celtic  ornament  with  Byzantine 
figure-composition  and  dress;1  and  this  influence  is  plainly 
discernible  in  the  South  Italian  scheme  of  decoration 
from  the  tenth  century  onwards,  where  Celtic  plait-work 
and  convolutions  of  interlaced  ribbons  or  foliage-stems 
are  combined  with  monsters  whose  weird  forms  bespeak 
a  Lombardic  origin,  and  sometimes  with  intertwined 
branch-and-leaf  work  in  gold  on  coloured  grounds, 
a  motive  evidently  borrowed  from  Ottonian  illumination. 
An  excellent  example  of  the  mingled  styles  found  in 
early  Italian  manuscripts  is  the  Sacramentary  written  for 
S.  Warmund,  Bishop  of  Ivrea  in  Piedmont,  about  the 
year  1000,  and  still  preserved  in  the  Chapter  Library 
there.2  The  opening  page  of  the  Canon  has  the  words 
"Te  igitur"  in  gold  interlaced  lettering  similar  to  that 
found  in  German  manuscripts  of  the  same  period,  together 
with  a  very  Byzantine-looking  figure  of  S.  Warmund  in  the 
orans  attitude  as  though  saying  Mass,  and  wearing  the 
rectangular  nimbus  appropriated  to  living  persons  in 
early  Italian  art.  On  the  other  hand,  the  really  fine 

1  See,  for  instance,  the  tenth-eleventh  century  Bobbio  Psalter  at  Munich  (Cod. 
lat.  343),  in  Kobell,  p.  22,  pi.  12,  13. 

2  F.  Carta,  C.    Cipolla,   and   C.    Frati,  Atlante  paleografico-artistico^  1899, 

pp.  21-2,  pi.  23-4. 
162 


ITALIAN    ILLUMINATION    BEFORE    1300 

miniature  of  the  Maries  at  the  Tomb  is  thoroughly 
instinct  with  C4assical  tradition  :  in  the  slender  dignified 
forms  of  the  women,  in  the  great  angel  with  his  flowing 
draperies,  in  the  sleeping  soldiers. 

It  is  to  the  Benedictine  monasteries  of  Southern  Italy, 
and  particularly  to  the  great  parent  house  of  Monte 
Cassino,  founded  by  S.  Benedict  in  the  sixth  century, 
that  we  must  look  for  the  beginnings  of  Italian  illumina- 
tion as  a  continuous  and  progressive  art.1  Lombard  and 
Saracen  invasions,  and  a  subsequent  fire  at  Teano,  where 
the  monks  had  taken  refuge  about  the  beginning  of  the 
tenth  century,  have  left  us  no  relics  of  the  book-painting 
practised  at  Monte  Cassino  during  the  first  three  cen- 
turies of  its  history.  But  there  is  little  sign  of  artistic 
tradition  in  the  earliest  extant  work  of  the  school,  a  copy  of 
Paul  the  Deacon's  Commentary  on  the  Rule  of  S.  Benedict, 
written  at  Capua  between  915  and  934,  and  preserved  in 
the  library  at  Monte  Cassino  (No.  175).  Besides  its 
frontispiece  (Christ  in  glory,  with  the  emblems  of  the 
Evangelists  and  two  adoring  angels),  it  has  a  miniature 
of  Abbot  John  giving  the  book  to  S.  Benedict,  who  sits 
in  a  jewelled  chair  with  an  angel  standing  behind  him. 
The  ornamental  framing  of  the  frontispiece  recalls  the 
Book  of  Durrow  and  other  early  Irish  manuscripts :  a 
broad  band  entwined  upon  itself  so  as  to  form  one  large 
central  circle  and  four  small  ones,  and  divided  into  panels 
filled  with  interlaced  ribbons.  The  figure-drawing,  how- 
ever, on  both  pages  is  rudimentary,  not  in  the  grotesquely 
conventional  Irish  manner,  but  rather  as  though  ineptly 
copied  from  models  which  had  some  relation  to  actual 
life  ;  the  chief  fault  is  in  the  proportions,  especially  those 
of  the  two  adoring  angels,  whose  crouching  bodies  and 
limbs  are  shrunk  almost  to  nothing,  while  their  heads, 
hands,  and  feet  are  enormous. 

With   the  eleventh   century,    the   number  of  extant 

1  See  E.  Bertaux,  U art  dans  V Italic  meridionale,  i,  1904,  pp.  155-67,  193- 
212,  etc.;  Oderisio  Piscicelli  Taeggi,  Le  Miniature  net  codici  Cassinesi  (Litografia 
di  Montecassino,  1887,  etc.),  and  Paleografia  artistica  di  Montecassino,  1876. 

163 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

illuminated  manuscripts  from  Monte  Cassino  becomes  far 
greater.  The  art  had  not  made  much  progress  by  the 
time  of  Abbot  Theobald  (1022-35),  if  we  may  judge  by 
the  miniatures  in  a  copy  of  S.  Gregory's  Moralia  written 
for  him  (Monte  Cassino,  No.  73),  with  their  wooden  faces, 
stiff,  unlifelike  figures,  and  poverty  of  design.  But  the 
abbacy  of  Desiderius,  who  was  elected  in  1058  and 
became  Pope  Victor  III  in  1086,  marks  an  epoch  in  the 
history  of  Benedictine  art  in  Southern  Italy ;  and  that  in 
miniature  as  well  as  architecture,  mosaic,  and  wall- 
painting.  He  imported  Greek  artists  from  Constanti- 
nople to  decorate  the  abbey  church  with  mosaics ;  and  the 
figure-compositions  in  the  manuscripts  illuminated  for 
him,  whether  painted  by  Greek  masters  or  Italian  pupils, 
are  purely  Byzantine  in  conception  and  manner.  The 
decorative  ornament  of  the  initials,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  quite  independent  of  Byzantine  influence ;  in  it,  the 
Celtic  and  Lombardic  elements  have  now  combined  to 
form  the  characteristic  South  Italian  style  of  the  eleventh 
and  twelfth  centuries :  interlaced  straps,  ribbons,  and 
tendrils,  with  greyhounds,  birds,  human  figures,  and 
grotesques.1  Both  styles  appear  to  great  advantage  in 
the  beautiful  Life  of  S.  Benedict  made  for  Abbot 
Desiderius  about  1070,  now  in  the  Vatican  Library  (Vat. 
lat.  1202):  another  of  his  books,  a  volume  of  Homilies, 
still  at  Monte  Cassino  (No.  99),  is  decorated  with  exquisite 
drawings  by  a  monk  named  Leo,  executed  in  1072. 

Under  Desiderius,  Monte  Cassino  became  one  of  the 
chief  centres  for  the  production  of  a  class  of  manuscripts 
peculiarly  South  Italian,  and  specially  interesting  to 
students  both  of  liturgiology  and  of  Romanesque  art. 
These  are  the  illustrated  Exultet  Rolls,2  which  were 

1  The  British  Museum,  which  is  not  strong  in  early  Italian  illuminations,  has 
a  twelfth  century  Psalter  (Add.   18859)  with  good  initials  in  this,  the  typical 
Cassinese  style.     Mr.  Yates  Thompson's  fine  Martyrology,  also  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury, is  profusely  decorated  in  the  same  manner.    See  Burl.  F.A.  Club,  No.  5,  pi.  13. 

2  These  are  discussed  very  fully,  with  illustrations,  by  Bertaux,  pp.  213-40. 
See  too  the  splendid  series  of  coloured  reproductions  published  at  Monte  Cassino, 
Le  Miniature  net  Rotoli  dell'  Exultet,  ed.  A.  M.  Latil,  1899,  etc.;  Venturi,  Storia 
dcW  arte  italiana^  iii,  pp.  726-54^ 

164 


ITALIAN    ILLUMINATION    BEFORE    1300 

used  in  the  ceremony  of  consecrating  the  great  paschal 
candle  on  Easter  Eve.  One  of  the  most  impressive 
services  in  the  liturgy  of  the  Roman  Church  at  the  present 
day,  this  dedication  of  the  holy  candle — symbolizing  at 
once  Christ  Himself  and  the  Pillar  of  Fire  which  led  the 
Children  of  Israel  in  the  wilderness — was  in  the  Middle 
Ages  a  ceremony  of  almost  sacramental  solemnity  :  a  fact 
attested  not  only  by  the  Exultet  Rolls  of  which  we  are 
now  speaking,  but  also  by  the  magnificent  sculptured 
candlesticks  of  the  Romanesque  period,  specially  intended 
for  the  paschal  candle  and  placed  near  the  ambo  from 
which  the  Exultet  was  declaimed,  which  are  still  to  be 
seen  in  many  of  the  churches  in  Southern  Italy.  The 
Exultet  itself,  the  text  inscribed  on  these  rolls,  is  the 
strange,  mystical,  almost  rhapsodical  chant  sung  by  the 
deacon  during  the  consecration  and  lighting  of  the  candle: 
named  from  its  opening  phrase,  "  Exultet  jam  angelica 
turba  caelorum,  exultent  divina  mysteria!"  Included 
in  the  Missal  as  early  as  the  seventh  century,  it  is  here 
written  separately  on  a  long  strip  of  vellum,  and  illus- 
trated with  pictures  drawn  in  the  reverse  direction,  so  as 
to  be  visible  right  way  up  to  the  congregation  as  the 
deacon  went  on  with  the  chant,  letting  the  unrolled  por- 
tion fall  over  the  front  of  the  ambo  before  him. 

These  illuminated  Exultet  Rolls  seem  only  to  have 
been  used  in  Southern  Italy,  and  there  only  for  a  com- 
paratively short  time,  the  surviving  examples  (which  are 
all  written  in  the  well-marked  script  known  to  palaeo- 
graphers as  Lombardic  minuscule)  ranging  in  date  from 
the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century  to  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth.  As  to  subjects  and  compositions  they  re- 
semble one  another  very  closely,  though  some  are  much 
more  copiously  illustrated  than  others.  The  most  com- 
plete ones  begin  with  a  miniature  of  Christ  in  glory, 
or  else  (in  two  of  the  later  ones)  of  a  prelate  enthroned 
between  two  priests.  Then  comes  an  immense  and 
elaborately  decorated  initial  "  E"  to  the  word  "  Exultet," 
with  the  "angelica  turba"  rejoicing,  some  rolls  adding  the 

165 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

Agnus  Dei  with  six-winged  seraphs  and  the  Evangelistic 
symbols.  The  next  picture  in  order,  illustrating  the 
words  "Gaudeat  et  tellus,"  etc.,  is  curiously  Classical  in 
conception.  In  the  Bari  Roll,  written  before  1028,  Earth 
is  represented  as  a  dignified  matron,  fully  draped,  stand- 
ing between  two  trees  with  animals  grouped  about  her 
feet ;  but  in  most  of  the  later  rolls,  including  that  in  the 
British  Museum,1  she  appears  sitting  on  the  ground  or 
else  emerging  from  it,  half-draped  or  nude,  with  ox  and 
serpent  or  two  other  creatures  feeding  at  her  breasts — a 
personification  of  the  Universal  Mother  obviously  in- 
spired by  pagan  art.  Interspersed  among  such  pictures 
as  these  are  others,  showing  the  successive  stages  of  the 
ritual  performed  during  the  chant :  the  censing,  blessing, 
and  lighting  of  the  candle,  the  insertion  of  the  five  grains 
of  incense,  etc.  Interesting  as  these  are  to  the  student  of 
Christian  archaeology,  they  are  necessarily  monotonous  in 
subject,  compared  with  the  rich  variety  of  the  allegorical 
or  literal  illustrations  of  the  text.  The  latter  include, 
besides  those  mentioned,  the  Crucifixion,  the  Passage  of 
the  Red  Sea,  the  Harrowing  of  Hell,  and  the  Fall  of 
Man  ;  also  Mother  Church,  a  queenly  figure  extending 
protective  arms  over  clergy  and  laity ;  and  a  very  curi- 
ous and  distinctive  scene,  warranted  by  the  text  and  yet 
suggestive  of  the  Georgics  rather  than  of  Christian 
imagery:  the  bees,  symbolical  of  the  Virgin  Birth,  gather- 
ing honey  and  producing  the  wax  of  which  the  paschal 
candle  is  made  ("Alitur  enim  liquantibus  ceris,  quas  in 
substantiam  pretiosae  hujus  lampadis  apis  mater  eduxit.") 
In  some  rolls  the  symbolism  is  enforced  by  a  miniature  of 
the  Nativity,  with  bees  hovering  around  the  crib ;  more 
commonly  by  a  separate  picture  of  the  Annunciation,  or  of 
the  Madonna  and  Child  with  adoring  angels. 

Until  the  end  of  the  eleventh  century,  most  of  these 
rolls  have  little  artistic  merit ;  some  indeed — notably  the 

1  Add.  30337,  assigned  by  the  editors  of  the  Palaeographical  Society  (i,  146) 
to  the  twelfth  century,  but  Bertaux,  who  says  (p.  226)  that  it  came  from  Monte 
Cassino,  calls  it  late  eleventh  century. 

1 66 


ima 

ing 

le  is 
tanti 


'-re  t» 
Cas 


th< 
)tably  1 

t'ca/  ,^ 
came  fro 


ITALIAN    ILLUMINATION    BEFORE    1300 

all  red-haired,  red-nosed,  and  ill-proportioned,  shows 
again  how  much  better  decorative  ornament  was  under- 
stood at  this  time  than  figure-painting.  In  the  fifteenth 
century  it  was  bequeathed  to  the  famous  Dominican 
priory  of  S.  Mark  at  Florence ;  but  nothing  is  known 
as  to  its  place  of  origin.  These  two  manuscripts  are  good 
examples  of  the  models  chosen  by  "humanistic"  Italian 
scribes  and  illuminators  in  the  Renaissance  period,  and 
imitated  with  such  bewildering  accuracy. 

How  strong  a  hold  Germanic  influence  had  obtained 
in  Northern  Italy  may  be  seen  in  such  manuscripts  as  the 
Gospel-book1  in  Padua  Cathedral,  written  in  that  city  in 
the  year  1170.  This  book  has  many  full-page  minia- 
tures, painted  in  body-colour  on  dull  gold  grounds. 
White,  emerald-green,  violet,  light  blue,  and  crimson  pre- 
dominate. The  colouring  is  often  quite  arbitrary — blue 
hair,  green  nimbi,  etc. ;  the  handling  particularly  harsh. 
The  stiff  and  numerous  folds  of  the  draperies  are  out- 
lined with  hard  bands  or  hems  of  colour,  the  large  oval 
eyes  and  clumsy  features  are  indicated  by  coarse  lines. 
In  fact,  these  miniatures  with  their  pale  hard  colouring, 
angular  figures,  dry  technique,  and  elaborate  post-Caro- 
lingian  architecture  of  striped  and  patterned  pillars 
upholding  round  arches  and  many-coloured  battlements, 
might  pass  as  the  production  of  some  highly  conservative 
Flemish  or  German  scriptorium.  Quite  admirable,  on 
the  other  hand,  are  the  grotesque  forms  of  birds,  fishes, 
dragons,  and  demons,  of  which  the  chief  initials  are  built 
up,  and  which  are  paralleled  by  the  quaint  and  vigorous 
carvings  that  abound  in  North  Italian  churches  of  the 
Romanesque  time. 

It  was  in  the  thirteenth  century  that  the  Byzantine 
influence  which  had  so  long  affected  the  course  of  South 
Italian  sculpture,  architecture,  and  painting,  flowed  over 
the  whole  of  the  peninsula,  producing  a  sudden  outburst 
of  pictorial  art,  often  of  peculiar  loveliness,  in  which  the 
stateliness  of  Byzantium,  her  Oriental  faculty  for  pre- 

1  See  Venturi,  iii,  pp.  450-2,  454. 

169 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

senting  spiritual  mysteries  under  the  guise  of  earthly 
magnificence,  was  softened,  humanized,  by  the  gentler 
temper  of  the  Italian  religious  mind.  Italy  in  the 
thirteenth  century  was  profoundly  moved  by  the  Fran- 
ciscan spirit,  which,  though  at  first  inimical  to  the 
production  of  works  of  art,  was  finally  responsible  for 
that  sweetness  and  simplicity  of  outlook  which  charms 
us  in  the  fresco-painting  of  the  early  Italian  school,  and 
gives  its  peculiar  quality  of  grace  to  Italo-Byzantine  art. 
This  art  was  applied  with  special  success  to  the  illumina- 
tion of  liturgical  books.  Here  its  admirable  convention, 
richness  of  colour,  and  extraordinary  power  of  rendering 
spiritual  themes  produced  a  sudden  revival  of  the 
miniaturist's  art,  in  which  Italy  as  a  whole  had  so 
long  been  content  to  lag  behind  her  northerly  neigh- 
bours. Whilst  England  and  France  were  in  the  hey- 
day of  their  Early  Gothic  period,  the  illuminators  of 
Padua,  Parma,  and  Bologna  looked  eastwards  for  in- 
spiration ;  and  Italian  miniature  began  to  be  henceforth 
sharply  differentiated  from  that  of  the  rest  of  the 
world. 

How  complete  was  the  transition  from  the  vague 
eclecticism,  which  makes  North  Italian  illuminations  of 
the  twelfth  century  so  perplexing  to  the  student,  to  the 
formal  but  finished  style  of  the  thirteenth  century,  is  well 
shown  by  a  comparison  of  the  Paduan  Gospel-book  of 
1170,  just  described,  with  an  Epistolar1  made  for  the 
same  cathedral  eighty-nine  years  later.  The  art  of  the 
Gospel-book  cannot  be  called  either  beautiful  or  religious. 
That  of  the  Epistolar,  on  the  contrary,  despite  the  faulty 
proportions  and  overcrowded  compositions,  is  essentially 
mature,  noble,  profoundly  spiritual.  The  pictures  express 
both  dignity  and  emotion :  things  so  opposed  in  their 
tendencies,  that  they  are  only  found  together  in  art  of 
a  high  order.  The  Byzantine  parentage  of  the  Epistolar 
is  obvious,  but  its  defects,  no  less  than  its  special  merits, 
mark  it  off  as  a  native  product;  and  as  a  matter  of 

1  Venturi,  iii,  pp.  486-9. 


ITALIAN    ILLUMINATION    BEFORE    1300 

fact  it  was  written  at  Padua  by  a  priest  named  Giovanni 
di  Gaibana,  who  finished  it  in  1259,  and  whose  portrait  is 
appended,  sitting  at  a  desk  and  writing  the  words  "  Ego 
presbyter  Johannes  scripsi  feliciter."  Turning  to  the  min- 
iatures, we  find  a  long  series  of  full-page  pictures  of  the 
lives  of  Christ  and  the  saints,  painted  on  highly  burnished 

fold  backgrounds  in  just  such  deep  rich  colours  as  are  to 
e  seen  in  the  altar-pieces  of  Duccio  and  other  Italian 
painters  who  employed  the  maniera  bizantina :  deep  blue 
predominates,  relieved  by  scarlet,  pinkish  purple,  and  a  little 
green.  Instead  of  hard  contours  and  flatly  laid  tints,  we 
have  admirably  modelled  figures  (though  imperfect  as  to 
proportions,  the  heads  being  too  big),  whose  dark  com- 
plexions, with  greenish  shadows  and  sharp  high-lights  on 
forehead,  cheek,  and  nose,  sufficiently  betray  their  Byzan- 
tine ancestry  ;  as  do  also  the  static  character  of  the  whole 
work,  the  sudden  failure  of  the  artist  when,  as  in  the 
Death  of  S.  John  Baptist,  he  tries  to  represent  violent 
action,  and  the  poetic  majesty  of  his  design  when,  as 
in  the  Death  of  the  Madonna,  he  is  content  to  give 
new  life  to  the  old,  formal  compositions.  The  vivacity 
of  expression  which,  without  impairing  the  impressive 
character  of  his  scenes,  gives  them  a  dramatic  force  often 
lacking  in  the  mystical  and  ceremonial  art  of  the  Greek 
painters,  owes  something,  perhaps,  to  Northern  influence; 
or  more  probably  to  the  Benedictine  art  of  South  Italy, 
for  the  same  quality  is  noticeable,  as  we  saw,  in  the 
twelfth  century  Exultet  Roll  in  the  British  Museum. 

By  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  a  well-marked 
type  of  conventional  border-ornament  had  been  evolved, 
which  persisted,  of  course  with  many  slight  variations, 
throughout  the  fourteenth  century  in  Italian  illumination, 
and  which  assuredly  owes  nothing  to  Eastern  influences  ; 
it  is,  in  fact,  closely  allied  with,  and  most  probably  derived 
from,  the  pendent  "bar-border"  initial-ornament  which  is 
one  of  the  features  of  thirteenth  century  English  and 
French  book-decoration.  Its  main  elements  are  :  (i)  The 
thin  wand  or  rod,  normally  straight  and  rigid,  but  capable 

171 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

of  being  tied  in  knots,  twisted  or  plaited ;  (2)  The  long 
lobed  and  pointed  leaf,  the  lobes  generally  on  one  side 
only :  this  may  spring  from  the  wands  or  from  the 
initial  letters,  or  may  be  an  independent  growth  twined 
round  them;  (3)  Cup-shaped  beads  threaded  on  the  wands 
and  stems :  though  this  style  of  ornament  is  more 
specially  typical  of  fourteenth  century  Italian  manu- 
scripts, it  had  already  come  into  use  before  the  end  of  the 
period  now  under  discussion,  particularly  at  Bologna, 
where  a  school  of  miniature  was  growing1  which  was 
afterwards  to  attain  a  position  of  considerable  import- 
ance. Another  device  found  in  Italian  borders  towards 
the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  was  doubtless  borrowed 
from  Northern  Europe,  where  it  was  much  more  fre- 
quently practised  and  with  much  freer  play  of  fancy  and 
humour,  especially  in  England,  North  France,  and  the 
Low  Countries.  This  is  the  frankly  comical  use  of  human, 
animal,  and  grotesque  figures  :  a  hare  hunting  a  man,  two 
men  fighting  a  gigantic  snail,  and  such-like  extravagances. 
They  are  not  very  common  in  Italian  art,2  but  are  note- 
worthy as  an  instance  of  the  constant  interchange  of 
artistic  ideas  between  different,  even  distant  countries. 

We  cannot  leave  the  thirteenth  century  without  some 
mention  of  a  manuscript  interesting  for  the  delightful- 
ness,  no  less  than  for  the  uncommon  character,  of  the 
drawings  that  it  contains.  This  is  a  copy  of  the  Emperor 
Frederic  IFs  treatise  De  arte  venandi  cum  ambus,  written 
about  1260,  presumably  in  Sicily  or  Southern  Italy,  and 
now  in  the  Vatican  Library  (Cod.  pal.  lat.  ioyi).3  It 
introduces  us  to  a  class  of  art  curiously  unlike  most 
of  what  Italy  was  producing  at  the  time.  The  accuracy 
and  beauty  of  its  marginal  paintings  of  birds  and 
falconers  indicate  rather  a  close  study  of  nature  than 
the  slavish  copying  of  traditional  models.  We  have  here 

1  See  Venturi,  iii,  p.  457  sq. 

2  For  examples  see  Venturi,  iii,  pp.  458-61,  and  a  small  Bible  in  the  British 
Museum,  Add.  37487. 

8  Venturi,  iii,  pp.  756-68 ;  Beissel,  Vat.  Min.,  pi.  20. 

172 


ITALIAN    ILLUMINATION    BEFORE    1300 

indeed  a  technical  accomplishment  and  beauty  of  line, 
quite  Greek  in  their  perfection,  employed  upon  pictures 
of  contemporary  life ;  and  these  bright  and  lifelike 
scenes,  with  their  intensely  open-air  atmosphere,  are  a 
refreshing  contrast  to  the  solemn,  monastic  spirit  which 
pervades  so  much  of  Italian  illumination  in  the  thirteenth 
century. 


173 


CHAPTER  X 

ENGLISH   ILLUMINATION   IN  THE   THIRTEENTH 

CENTURY 

THE  twelfth  century,  as  we  saw  in  chapter  vii,  was 
a  transitional  period  in  English  book-decoration; 
and  its  close  witnessed  the  birth  of  a  new  style, 
which  may  well  be  called  Gothic  from  its  intimate  con- 
nection with  the  architectural  style  that  supplanted  the 
Romanesque  about  the  same  time.  In  the  main,  Gothic 
illumination  is  minute,  refined,  delicate,  contrasting 
sharply  with  the  broad  manner  of  the  preceding  age.  At 
its  best  it  is,  indeed,  the  most  perfect  realization  of  the 
aims  and  ideals  proper  to  the  miniaturist's  art,  as  dis- 
tinct from  skilful  adaptations  of  the  designs  and  methods 
of  other  arts,  mosaic,  wall-painting,  weaving,  or  metal- 
work.  Not  that  miniature  was  specially  isolated  and  self- 
contained  during  the  Gothic  period — on  the  contrary,  at 
no  time  is  its  kinship  with  the  sister  arts  more  apparent; 
but  that  somehow  the  decorative  and  illustrative  ideas 
characteristic  of  this  remarkable  age  happened  to  be 
specially  suited  to  the  limitations  under  which  the  minia- 
turist worked.  This  applies  to  France  equally  with 
England,  at  all  events  during  the  earlier  part  of  this 
period.  For  the  first  two-thirds  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
indeed,  French  and  English  illumination  resemble  one 
another  so  closely  as  to  be  practically  indistinguishable — 
be  the  initial  credit  due  to  this  country  or  to  that.  Later 
on,  as  we  shall  see,  the  two  followed  somewhat  divergent 
paths  ;  and  the  development  of  the  art,  which  in  England 
was  abruptly  checked  about  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  proceeded  continuously  in  France  right  on  to  its 


ENGLISH    ILLUMINATION,    13™    CENT. 

decay  in  the  tasteless  magnificence  of  the  Renaissance 
period. 

The  miniaturist  was  encouraged  to  cultivate  a  more 
minute  style  by  the  reduction  of  scale  in  book-production 
generally,  which  began  to  come  in  about  the  year  1200. 
Huge  tomes  like  the  Winchester  and  Durham  Bibles 
were  no  longer  in  vogue ;  a  demand  arose  for  books  of  a 
handier  size,  in  particular  for  single  volumes  of  portable 
dimensions  containing  the  whole  of  the  Latin  Bible. 
These  were  a  special  feature  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
and  immense  numbers  of  them  still  exist ;  their  multi- 
plicity was  due  in  part,  no  doubt,  to  the  efforts  of  Paris 
University  to  purify  the  Vulgate  text,  but  they  also  testify 
to  the  zealous  activity  of  the  itinerant  friars.  With  this 
reduction  in  format  came  also  a  diminution  in  the  size 
of  the  lettering,  a  small,  exquisitely  neat  and  clear  minus- 
cule script  replacing  the  large,  bold  characters  of  the 
twelfth  century  book-hands ;  so  that  the  artist  was  im- 
pelled by  his  sense  of  due  proportion,  as  well  as  by  his 
now  restricted  allowance  of  space,  to  alter  his  methods. 
Initial-ornament,  already  a  prominent  feature  of  twelfth 
century  book-decoration,  began  to  engross  his  attention 
more  and  more  at  the  expense  of  the  full-page  miniature ; 
the  historiated  initial  so  affecting  his  style  in  figure-com- 
position that  when  whole  pages  were  still  given  up  to 
miniatures  it  became  usual  to  divide  them  into  compart- 
ments, each  containing  a  picture  not  much  more  spacious 
than  those  enclosed  in  the  larger  initials.  A  very  interest- 
ing and  distinctive  feature  of  the  initial-ornament  of  this 
period  is  the  pendent  tail,  out  of  which  were  gradually 
evolved  the  luxuriant  borders  which  so  light  up  the  pages 
of  French  fifteenth  century  Books  of  Hours.  At  first 
this  tail  merely  wanders  a  little  way  down  the  margin, 
to  end  in  a  leaf  or  knob ;  gradually  it  lengthens  until  it 
reaches  the  foot  of  the  column  of  text,  when  it  proceeds 
next  to  turn  the  corner,  becoming  eventually  a  complete 
border  which  surrounds  the  text  on  all  four  sides.  The 
main  part  is  at  first  quite  straight  and  rigid ;  hence  the 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

term  "  bar-border "  is  sometimes  given  to  this  type  of 
decoration  in  the  comparatively  simple  and  undeveloped 
form  which  it  kept  throughout  the  thirteenth  century. 
But  the  straight  edge  soon  began  to  be  replaced  by  a 
series  of  cusped  lines,  or  other  curves  ;  and  small  figures, 
human,  animal,  or  grotesque,  further  relieve  the  rigidity, 
perching  on  the  bars  or  forming  terminal  ornaments. 
Finally,  the  bars  themselves  turn  into  foliage -stems, 
putting  forth  leafy  branches  of  ever-increasing  lightness, 
intricacy,  and  variety,  bearing  flowers  and  fruit  as  well  as 
leaves  without  regard  for  species.  This  last  development 
hardly  appears  before  1300,  and  does  not  reach  its  full 
luxuriance  until  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century ; 
but  a  tendency  had  already  begun,  as  early  as  the  middle 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  to  transform  part  of  the  bar  into 
a  thin  cylindrical  rod,  adorned  at  intervals  with  rings  and 
other  ornaments — a  device  which  became,  as  we  saw  in 
chapter  ix,  the  foundation  of  the  typical  fourteenth 
century  border  in  Italy. 

The  great  majority  of  the  most  finely  illuminated 
English  manuscripts  of  the  thirteenth  century  are  Psalters. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  century  these  usually  open  with 
a  series  of  pages  filled  with  miniatures  of  the  life  of 
Christ,  two  on  a  page,  enclosed  within  narrow  banded 
frames.  The  British  Museum  possesses  two  typical 
examples  of  the  class  in  Roy.  i  D.  x1  and  Arundel  I57,2 
practically  identical  in  amount  and  subjects  of  illumina- 
tion, but  differing  widely  in  artistic  merit.  As  neither 
of  them  mentions  the  translation  of  S.  Thomas  of  Canter- 
bury in  the  Calendar,  it  is  fairly  safe  to  conclude  that  they 
were  written  before  1220.  The  Calendar  of  the  former 
points  somewhat  dubiously  to  Winchester  as  the  place 
of  origin,  that  of  the  latter  more  decisively  to  Oxford ; 
but  both  are  plainly  derived  from  a  common  archetype, 
and  belong,  so  far  as  the  miniatures  are  concerned,  to  the 
same  transitional  class  as  the  Westminster  Psalter  (Roy. 
2  A.  xxii),  noted  at  the  end  of  chapter  vii,  though  to  a 

1  Warner,  Reprod.,  iii,  14.  2  Ibid.,  iii,  16. 

176 


term  "bar-borde 
decoration  in  the  o 
form  whic  >pt  th 

But  th. 
seri< 

r  crrot 


-anch 


of  tl 


. 
• 


PLATE  XXI 


PSALTER.    ENGLISH,   EARLY  XIIIxH   CENT. 

BRIT.    MUS.    ROYAI.    1    D    X 


ENGLISH    ILLUMINATION,    ISTH    CENT. 

and  rich  variety  of  the  decorative  designs,  and  the  fine 
execution  of  the  smaller  miniatures.  Arundel  157  may 
almost  be  called  a  coarser,  more  commonplace  replica. 
Its  initials  and  Calendar-medallions  are  only  slightly 
inferior ;  its  Beatus  mr  is  actually  finer,  being  on  a  larger 
scale  and  more  elaborately  intricate  in  design,  while  no 
less  splendid  in  colouring — indeed,  few  more  perfect  pages 
exist,  if  any,  of  this  particular  kind.  But  the  Gospel- 
miniatures  at  the  beginning  are  distinctly  on  a  lower  level 
than  those  in  the  Royal  MS.  Practically  identical  in 
subject,  main  outlines  of  composition,  and  general  scheme 
of  arrangement,  they  fail  altogether  to  produce  the  same 
pleasing  effect.  The  figures  are  smaller,  less  dignified, 
with  something  of  the  gaunt  ungainliness  which  character- 
ized English  figure-drawing  nearly  a  century  earlier,  as 
in  the  Holford  MS.  of  the  Passion  of  S.  Edmund ; l  the 
faces  have  the  same  touches  of  red  and  white,  but  are  not 
treated  with  the  same  masterly  delicacy.  Finally,  the 
colouring,  though  bright  and  varied,  has  not  the  same 
rich,  soft  charm,  chiefly  through  the  painter's  lack  of  sure 
instinct  for  harmony  in  colour.  In  short,  the  manuscript 
is  not  the  production  of  a  great  artist,  but  represents  ex- 
cellently the  average  work  of  an  exceptionally  interesting 
period  in  the  history  of  English  illumination.  Among 
other  characteristics  of  Gothic  art,  it  illustrates  the 
whimsical  habit  of  collocating  the  sublime  with  the 
ridiculous :  the  solemn  prayers  which  follow  the  Litany 
having  initials  historiated  with  such  incongruous  subjects 
as  a  monkey  riding  on  a  lion's  back. 

Another  Psalter  of  the  same  period,  but  decorated  in 
a  very  different  manner,  is  Lansdowne  420  in  the  British 
Museum,  emanating  perhaps  from  Chester,  since  S.  Wer- 
burga  and  her  mother  S.  Eormenilda  receive  special  honour 
in  the  Calendar.  Like  the  two  books  just  dealt  with,  it 
has  excellent  line-endings  in  blue  and  red  outlines  (fishes, 
human  heads  and  limbs,  etc.) ;  but  here  the  resemblance 
ends.  The  ten  pages  of  Gospel-miniatures  at  the  begin- 

1  Above,  p.  135. 

179 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

ning  are  evidently  inspired  by  a  series  of  medallions  in 
stained  glass.  The  pictures,  two  on  a  page,  are  painted 
on  gold,  red  or  blue  grounds  in  roundels,  which  are  placed 
on  square  fields  of  a  contrasting  colour;  the  gold 
burnished  and  stamped  with  a  star-pattern,  the  coloured 
grounds  patterned  with  white  dots  and  rings.  The  stiff, 
elongated,  angular  figures  have  all  the  severity  proper  to 
the  glass-painter's  technique,  their  heavy  black  outlines 
reproduce  the  leads  exactly,  and  the  drapery  folds  are 
indicated  in  the  same  style  by  thick  lines ;  the  colouring 
shows  a  strong  preponderance  of  deep  blue  and  red.  The 
Beatus  mr  page  is  of  an  unusual  and  amusing  type.  The 
"  B,"  made  of  narrow  entwined  ribbons  on  a  gold  field, 
forms  a  small  and  rather  insignificant  foundation  ;  but 
round  about  it,  on  a  blue  ground  patterned  with  white 
branch-work,  are  eight  gold  medallions  containing  delight- 
ful figures  of  animal  musicians — donkey  and  harp,  cat 
and  fiddle,  etc.  Outside  all  this  is  a  frame  holding  more 
medallions  of  a  less  frivolous  character. 

The  Psalter  of  Robert  de  Lindeseye,  Abbot  of  Peter- 
borough, in  the  library  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,1 
cannot  be  many  years  later  than  the  manuscripts  which 
we  have  been  considering,  its  date  being  fixed  between 
the  Translation  of  S.  Thomas  of  Canterbury  in  1220  and 
the  death  of  Abbot  Robert  in  1222;  but  its  beautiful 
miniatures  already  show  the  thirteenth  century  style  in 
full  maturity.  The  most  striking  of  these  is  a  Cruci- 
fixion,2 drawn  and  painted  with  exquisite  delicacy  on  a 
rich  background  of  burnished  and  patterned  gold.  The 
anatomy  is  by  no  means  faultless,  the  limbs  of  Christ 
being  attenuated  beyond  all  possibility ;  but  this,  like  the 
touch  of  sentimentality  in  S.  John's  expression  and  pose, 
is  a  trifling  blemish  resulting  very  naturally  from  the 
extreme  refinement  and  genuine  feeling  with  which  the 
whole  picture  is  instinct.  Especially  charming  is  the  grace- 
ful figure  of  the  Virgin,  balancing  that  of  S.  John  ;  again 

1  No.  59.     See  Burl.  F.A.  Club,  No.  37,  pi.  36. 

2  PI.  xxii. 
1 80 


ning  are 
stai; 


'  back 


• 


PLATE  XXII 


PSALTER  OF  ROBERT  DE  LINDESEY,  ABBOT  OF  PETERBOROUGH,  1220-22. 

SOCIETY  OF  ANTIQUARIES,  MS.  59. 


ENGLISH    ILLUMINATION,    I$TK    CENT. 

In  these,  as  in  the  smaller  historiated  initials  of  the  other 
books,  the  style  of  the  painting  is  rather  flat,  though  the 
figures  are  well  and  accurately  drawn ;  the  colour-effect 
generally  is  pallid,  a  very  curious  whitish  blue  pre- 
dominating. The  chapter-initials,  coloured  blue  or  red, 
are  decorated  with  pen  flourishes  in  the  same  colours, 
often  elaborate  and  very  delicately  executed.  This  kind 
of  ornament  became  a  great  feature  of  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  century  illumination  ;  it  reached  its  greatest 
perfection  in  England  about  the  beginning  of  the  four- 
teenth century ;  in  Italy,  where  its  development  was 
carried  further,  about  half  a  century  later. 

A  more  beautiful  manuscript,  indeed  the  very  flower 
of  its  class,  is  Royal  i  D.  i,1  a  Bible  written  about  the 
middle  of  the  thirteenth  century  by  one  William  of 
Devon  ;  few  English  manuscripts  of  its  time  can 
approach  it  in  perfection  of  taste  and  technique.  Its 
historiated  initials,  with  their  exquisite  little  figures  on 
burnished  gold  or  diapered  backgrounds,  are  finished 
with  microscopic  exactitude ;  they  are  prolonged  into  bar- 
borders  which  often  surround  the  text  on  three  sides, 
supporting  delicious  little  grotesques  and  sometimes 
ending  in  slender  foliage-stems.  Only  two  pages  have 
miniatures  unconnected  with  initials.  The  first  of 
these,2  after  the  concluding  lines  of  S.  Jerome's  Pro- 
logue to  the  Pentateuch,  is  filled  with  canopied  panels 
of  red,  lake,  or  deep  blue,  either  diapered  or  else 
powdered  with  tiny  patterns  of  white  dots  and  rings.  In 
the  topmost  compartment  is  the  Coronation  of  Christ  by 
the  Father ;  below  this,  the  Crucifixion  between  two 
seraphs.  The  lowest  division  has  in  the  centre  the 
Virgin  and  Child,  with  a  small  miniature  below  of  S. 
Martin  and  the  beggar ;  on  the  sides,  SS.  Peter  and  Paul. 
At  the  foot  of  the  page  is  a  kneeling  monk,  perhaps 
William  of  Devon,  perhaps  the  person  for  whom  the 

1  Thompson,  pp.  36-8,  pi.  n  ;  Warner,  Ilium.  MSS.,  pi.  20,  and  Reprod.^ 
ii,  10  ;  Kenyon,  Biblical  MSS.,  pi.  xix. 
-  PI.  xxiii. 

133 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

book  was  written.  The  second  miniature-page,  prefixed 
to  the  Psalms,  is  also  divided  into  compartments ;  the 
backgrounds  are  blue  or  lake,  powdered  with  gold  discs 
and  a  white  dot -pattern ;  the  subjects  depicted  are  the 
Crucifixion,  the  martyrdom  of  S.  Thomas  of  Canterbury, 
the  story  of  the  Virgin  helping  him  to  mend  his  shirt, 
and  an  apparition  of  Christ  to  him  or  some  other  arch- 
bishop. The  prominence  given  to  S.  Thomas  has  led  to 
the  suggestion  that  the  manuscript  was  written  at  Canter- 
bury, where  S.  Martin  too  had  long  been  held  in  special 
reverence,  as  well  as  the  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  the 
original  patrons  of  S.  Augustine's  Abbey.  This,  however, 
is  mere  conjecture ;  nothing  is  definitely  known  of  the 
history  of  the  book,  beyond  the  name  of  its  scribe,  which 
may  be  taken  as  guaranteeing  its  English  origin.  Of  the 
other  pages,  the  most  richly  illuminated  are  the  first 
page  in  the  volume,  having  a  miniature  of  S.  Jerome 
writing  enclosed  within  the  initial,  and  borders  decorated 
with  exquisite  little  figures  of  archers,  rabbits,  birds,  and 
grotesques,  and  monks  drawn  in  outline  and  delicately 
tinted  ;  the  In  principle  of  Genesis,  with  a  series  of  tiny 
panels  under  cusped  arches,  containing  miniatures  of  the 
Creation,  Fall,  and  Atonement ;  and  the  Prologue  to  S. 
Matthew,  with  a  Jesse-tree  in  the  initial.  In  these 
miniatures,  as  in  the  historiated  initials  of  the  several 
books,  the  figures  are  of  the  slender,  dignified  type 
characteristic  of  the  best  Gothic  art.  The  chapter-initials 
throughout  the  volume  are  enriched  with  red  and  blue 
pen-work  decoration  of  the  utmost  delicacy. 

Firm  and  delicate  draughtsmanship  formed  the 
groundwork  of  all  the  best  English  illumination  of  this 
period,  as  of  those  which  preceded  and  followed  it ;  and 
the  practice  of  illustrating  books  in  outline,  either  lightly 
tinted  or  left  quite  uncoloured,  did  not  fall  into  complete 
desuetude,  though  the  prevailing  taste  at  this  time  was 
for  books  resplendent  with  burnished  gold  and  rich  warm 
colouring.  The  scriptorium  of  S.  Alban's  Abbey,  in  par- 
ticular, has  left  us  several  fine  manuscripts  of  the  former 
184 


I  US 


PLATE  XXI 1 1 


we  tor.fitif.  <£t6  uu  rmr  ?x;qjb  nit 

tcduts  n  bnr-.dlitio  tft  tomraf c  y 

«a  au  a\nis  aft 

iHirum-.  ^  ctnentaroiaftmT  cjeempia 

naiaona  q^ngttta.gma^ 

a-iunricc  tottrmi 

t»con  ocftoenumcttt  mtitsriium  o 

pus  mtfutnit fraftoT  agtnrft  gtoi 

•  •  ofomi?  tnitts  • 


BIBLE.  ENGLISH,  XIIlTH  CENT. 

BRIT.  MUS.  ROYAL  1  D  I 


ENGLISH    ILLUMINATION,    ISTH    CENT. 


(twelfth  century),  though  here  the  Bestiary  illustrations 
are  decidedly  inferior  to  those  of  the  Herbal.  One  of  the 
finest  extant  Bestiaries,  now  in  Mr.  Pierpont  Morgan's 
library,1  was  executed  in  England  shortly  before  1187, 
when  a  Canon  of  Lincoln  gave  it  to  Worksop  Priory  ; 
another  excellent  specimen,  perhaps  slightly  later,  is 
Harl.  475  1.2  The  most  interesting  of  the  pictures  are, 
of  course,  those  which  illustrate  the  supposed  habits  of 
the  creatures  described  :  the  pelican  feeding  her  young 
with  her  blood  ;  the  unicorn  crouching  entranced  at  a 
maiden's  feet  ;  the  watersnake  spitefully  entering  the  jaws 
of  a  sleeping  crocodile  in  order  to  devour  his  entrails  ; 
the  whale  plunging  into  the  depths,  to  the  consternation 
of  the  sailors  who  have  lighted  a  fire  on  its  back  ;  the 
wondrous  white  bird  caladrius,  which  perches  on  a  king's 
sickbed  and  either  looks  him  in  the  face  and  cures  him, 
or  else  turns  its  back  on  him,  forecasting  his  speedy 
death. 

In  the  second  half  of  the  thirteenth  century  English 
illumination  was  approaching  its  climax,  wrhich  it  reached 
soon  after  the  year  1300.  The  ascetic,  emaciated  types  of 
face  and  figure  began  to  assume  softer,  more  rounded  and 
gracious  contours  ;  and  in  like  manner  the  severe  restraint 
of  the  bar-border  was  relaxed,  branches  shooting  freely  in 
all  directions,  bearing  leaves  in  ever-increasing  luxuriance, 
and  giving  shelter  to  all  manner  of  dainty,  whimsical, 
fantastic  creatures,  as  well  as  to  birds  and  animals  often 
painted  with  amazing  fidelity  to  nature.  Nor  is  this 
advance  in  freedom  and  luxuriance  accompanied  by  any 
decline  in  delicacy  of  drawing  or  refinement  of  taste  ;  on 
the  contrary,  technique  improved  steadily  in  every  way, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  artistic  instinct  became  more 
sure.  Of  the  many  fine  books  of  this  period,  which  have 
survived  to  the  present  day,  only  a  very  small  selection 
can  be  mentioned  here  ;  most  of  these  are  Psalters,  but  a 

1  No.-  107.     See  M.  R.  James,  Catalogue  (2  plates)  ;  Burl.  F.A.  Club,  No.  80, 
pi.  69. 

'-'  Warner,  Reprod.,  Hi,  13. 

I87 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

rival  was  already  beginning  to  appear  in  the  Book  of 
Hours,  afterwards  by  far  the  most  popular  of  illuminated 
manuscripts.  The  British  Museum  possesses  two  good 
examples  of  the  latter  class  in  Eg.  1151 l  and  Harl.  928, 
both  very  small  books,  and  both  profusely  decorated  with 
dogs,  rabbits,  birds,  and  grotesques,  either  placed  on  bar- 
borders  or  filling  the  margins.  Eg.  1151  has  no  large 
miniatures,  but  instead  there  are  exquisite  little  historiated 
initials  at  the  beginnings  of  the  several  offices,  hardly  to 
be  surpassed  for  minuteness  of  detail  and  delicacy  of 
execution.  The  figures,  set  against  finely  diapered  back- 
grounds, are  drawn  in  very  fine  black  outline,  the  faces 
and  some  of  the  draperies  left  white.  Tradition  not 
having  yet  fixed  the  range  of  subjects  for  illustrating  the 
Horae,  the  artist  has  sometimes  given  us  delightful  scenes 
of  contemporary  life,  e.g.  on  f.  47  we  have  a  charming 
little  picture  of  musicians  playing  while  a  youth  and 
two  ladies  dance.  Harl.  928  begins,  like  the  Psalters, 
with  a  series  of  full-page  miniatures  of  the  life  of  Christ; 
these,  like  the  historiated  initials  in  the  text,  are  less 
delicate  and  finished,  more  archaic  in  style,  than  the 
paintings  in  Eg.  1151;  but  the  grotesques  which  are 
scattered  over  the  margins  are  full  of  variety  and  humour. 
Interesting  though  these  little  volumes  are,  however, 
they  are  completely  eclipsed  by  the  splendid  Psalters 
executed  about  the  same  time.  Foremost  among  these  is 
a  magnificent  book  in  the  Duke  of  Rutland's  library, z 
written  about  the  middle  of  the  century  and  decorated  as 
far  as  Psalm  ex  with  extraordinary  wealth  and  profusion. 
One  of  its  special  features  is  that  six  of  the  psalms  have 
full-page  or  nearly  full-page  miniatures  prefixed ;  all 
finely  painted  and  elaborately  finished,  though  varying 
considerably  in  style  and  merit.  The  most  beautiful  by 
far  is  the  picture  of  Saul  aiming  a  javelin  at  David :  the 
faces  are  delicately  drawn  and  full  of  expression,  especi- 
ally that  of  a  slender  graceful  woman  who  stands  beside 

1  Warner,  Reprod.,  i,  12. 

2  New  PaL  Soc.,  pi.  64-6;  Burl.  F.A.  Club,  No.  43,  pi.  41. 
1 81 


ENGLISH    ILLUMINATION,    ISTH    CENT. 


the  infuriated  king,  her  hand  uplifted  in  gentle  protest. 
Expressive  faces  and  gracefully  modelled  figures  are 
noticeable  again  in  the  miniature  of  Balaam  and  the 
angel,  where  the  ass  (apart  from  its  blue  colour)  is  depicted 
with  a  spirited  naturalism  not  often  found  at  so  early 
a  date.  The  Jacob's  Ladder  miniature  has  something  of 
the  charm  of  these  two  ;  and  that  of  David  playing  on  an 
organ  is  remarkable  both  for  the  rare  interest  of  the  sub- 
ject to  historians  of  music,  and  also  for  the  vigorous, 
well-modelled  figure  of  the  youth  who  works  the  bellows. 
These  six  psalms  and  three  others  have  large  illuminated 
initials,  the  first  eight  enclosing  miniatures,  the  last  (Ps. 
ex)  filled  with  conventional  foliage  ornament.  The  Calendar 
has  the  usual  two  roundels  for  each  month,  containing  the 
zodiacal  signs  and  occupation-pictures  on  burnished  gold 
backgrounds.  Psalm  i  has  a  splendid  initial-page  :  the 
framework  of  the  "B"  formed  by  two  long-necked  dragons 
with  tails  ending  in  convolutions  of  foliage,  and  by  two 
lions  back  to  back,  with  men  astride  both  lions  and 
dragons,  fighting  the  latter  or  seizing  one  another  by  the 
hair  ;  the  loops  historiated  with  David  as  Harpist  and 
the  Judgment  of  Solomon  ;  between  the  "B"  and  the  rect- 
angular frame,  and  at  the  four  corners  of  the  latter,  are 
seven  roundels  of  the  Creation  and  Fall.  The  other 
psalms  have  finely  illuminated  initials,  sometimes  enclos- 
ing figures,  but  more  often  filled  with  decorative  designs 
of  foliage.  The  borders  are  not  of  the  typical  bar-border 
kind,  but  consist  of  a  broad  vertical  band  of  gold,  or  of 
blue  and  red  covered  with  white  tracery,  running  down 
the  left-hand  side  of  the  page  and  having  the  gold  verse- 
initials  set  within  it,  with  dragons,  birds,  or  other  designs 
at  the  terminations  ;  helping  to  enhance  the  rich,  ornate 
appearance  of  the  book.  A  far  more  striking  feature,  how- 
ever, of  the  Rutland  Psalter  is  the  abundance,  variety,  and 
excellence  of  its  marginal  decoration  :  coloured  drawings 
of  single  figures  or  small  groups,  sometimes  exquisitely 
graceful,  always  instinct  with  life  and  humour,  fill  the 
lower  margins  of  many  pages  ;  besides  the  usual  gro- 

189 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

tesques,  animals,  and  fanciful  creatures  such  as  mermaids 
and  centaurs,  there  are  illustrations  of  the  games,  pastimes, 
and  ordinary  pursuits  of  everyday  contemporary  life — 
chess-playing,  wrestling,  tumbling,  etc. — as  precious  to  the 
antiquary  as  they  are  delightful  to  the  ordinary  beholder. 
The  leading  characteristics  of  English  illumination  at 
the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century  are  well  seen  in  two 
manuscripts  now  in  the  British  Museum,  which  were  both 
not  improbably  executed  in  a  Dominican  house,  perhaps 
the  Blackfriars  in  London,  viz.  the  famous  Tenison 
Psalter1  and  the  Ashridge  Petrus  Comestor;2  although 
neither  of  them  contains  any  large  miniatures.  The 
Tenison  Psalter,  so  called  because  it  once  belonged  to 
Archbishop  Tenison,  was  originally  intended,  as  the  arms 
on  the  first  page  show,  for  presentation  to  Alphonso,  son 
of  King  Edward  I,  on  his  marriage  with  the  Count  of 
Holland's  daughter  Margaret;  but  the  abrupt  change  after 
the  first  quire  to  a  more  commonplace  style  of  decoration 
has  led  to  the  inference  that  the  illumination  of  the  book 
was  interrupted  by  the  young  prince's  death  in  1284,  a 
few  days  after  the  sealing  of  the  marriage  contract,  and 
that  its  completion  was  afterwards  entrusted  to  inferior 
artists.  In  its  present  state  the  volume  begins  with  three 
pages  of  finely  executed  figures  of  saints  ;  but  these,  like 
the  small  miniatures  of  the  life  of  Christ  which  fill  the 
next  three  pages,  are  later  insertions,  and  we  are  here 
concerned  only  with  the  opening  quire  of  the  Psalter  text 
itself.  The  first  page  is  framed  in  a  gold-edged  band  of  tiny 
lozenges,  alternately  blue  and  crimson ;  on  this  border, 
and  in  the  margins  outside,  are  exquisitely  painted  birds 
— gull,  bullfinch,  etc.,  drawn  and  coloured  with  scientific 
accuracy,  and  standing  in  the  most  lifelike  attitudes — also 
other  figures,  lion,  leopard,  an  ape  shooting  a  crane,  and 
at  the  foot  of  the  page  a  dainty  little  David  slinging  a 
stone  at  Goliath  ;  David  also  appears  as  harpist  in  the 

1  Add.  24686.     See  Pal.  Soc.,  i,  196 ;  Thompson,  p.  39,  pi.  12;   Warner, 
Ilium.  MSS.,  pi.  22,  and  Reprod.,  iii,  17. 

2  Roy.  3  D.  vi.     See  Neiv  Pal  Soc.,  pi.  13. 

190 


sn  cmnttu  ftt&cfnm  mats*  cst'gtet 
^n«?ircfc«tw 

am 


mnm 

e  fei  ^ 

:  tit|3amflRfit  mnt          ctt 

«mnttttfe> 


mt^amn  cmumittt  me  mi 


m  mttttot 
ft; 
cti 


' 


first  pa; 
loze  dternat 


Ho 
the  p 


a  a  D< 


2,  ana  A e proa.* 


it  om 


PLATE    XXIV 


0  tnmc  qtttD  tmtlnpltem  fttnr  qttt  m 
jbttJUmrmc'mtttomftttgttmraDttct^me- 
Jl^trttt  duttnranmtcmornon  eft-  fcftts  tpfi 
mocoatts- 

^&u  dtmm  commc  fttfc 
mm  etemltans  cajwrmatmi 
TKxOx  mm  ^  lommttm  dmndttt:era<atDttttr 

omrnut  cc(53|m^itts  (ttmrcr^ftttmt  qttt 

:  ttmdto  mtttapintlt  amtmmntts  me 
4tflgt  qmttnt  faltatm  me  fecoats  mettsj 

ptxtt(3ftflt  omncB  m>tttrtantt8 
,  xmttm  ammtttflt- 
j:erftQxr|»|nuttmtttttmtt 


tnttoamn 


atfctmfit  nudrt- 


ma:lcrmutDt  o^tttoncm 


nimmattmO 

BrfotottqttontammtttftmtttrrDmmusi 
fcm&tm  fitttmrimntmts  emttotct  nu  ettmda 


PSALTER  OF  PRINCE  ALPHONSO.  ENGLISH,  1284 

BRIT.    MUS.   ADD.   24686 


FRENCH    ILLUMINATION,    ISTH    CENT. 


Ingeburge  Psalter1  at  Chantilly,  executed  in  or  shortly 
before  1213  for  Ingeburge,  the  ill-used  wife  of  Philip 
Augustus,  perhaps  as  a  memorial  of  her  reconciliation 
with  her  husband  after  twenty  years  of  estrangement. 
The  style  of  the  miniatures  shows  a  strong  English 
influence;  austere  and  simple  types,  rich  colour,  a  general 
impression  of  splendour  and  severity.  The  twenty-seven 
pages  of  preliminary  paintings,  mostly  two  on  a  page, 
on  burnished  gold  backgrounds,  illustrate  scenes  from  the 
Old  Testament,  the  Life  of  Christ,  Pentecost,  the  Last 
Judgment,  the  Burial  and  Coronation  of  the  Virgin,  and 
the  legend  of  her  deliverance  of  Theophilus  from  the  toils 
of  the  devil.  Their  subjects  point  to  a  connection  with 
the  so-called  S.  Louis  Psalter  at  Leyden,  mentioned  in 
chapter  vii  ;2  but  the  style  is  more  advanced,  with  less 
stiffness  and  a  greater  attempt  at  grace  and  gentleness  of 
expression,  and  is  altogether  much  nearer  to  that  of 
another  English  manuscript,  the  early  thirteenth  century 
Psalter  Roy.  i  D.  x.3  As  in  that  book,  and  in  most 
Psalters  of  the  thirteenth  century,  whether  French  or 
English,  the  Calendar  is  decorated  with  medallions  of  the 
zodiacal  signs  and  figures  symbolical  of  the  occupations 
proper  to  each  month,  the  text  of  the  Psalms  with  a  full- 
page  Beatus  vir  and  initials  enclosing  small  miniatures 
of  the  life  of  David.  There  is  no  direct  evidence  as  to 
where  the  Ingeburge  Psalter  was  executed,  but  the  saints' 
names  in  Calendar  and  Litany  indicate  the  north  of 
France,  possibly  Paris  itself. 

Closely  related  to  the  Ingeburge  Psalter,  and,  like  it, 
showing  strong  affinity  to  English  art  in  general  and  to 
the  Leyden  S.  Louis  Psalter  in  particular,  is  the  Arsenal 
MS.  u86;4  a  Psalter  formerly  preserved  in  the  Sainte 

1  Described  by  the  Due  d'Aumale,  Music  Conde,  Chantilly.  Cabinet  des 
Livres.  MSS.,  vol.  i,  1900,  pp.  9-12.  See  too  L.  Delisle,  Notice  de  douze  livres 
royaux,  1902,  pp.  1-17,  pl.  1-3, 

-  Above,  p.  141.  3  Noticed  above,  p.  176. 

•  All  its  miniatures  have  been  reproduced  by  H.  Martin,  Psautier  de  St.  Louis 
et  de  Blanche  de  Castille  (Joyaux  de  T  Arsenal,  I  [1909]).     See  too  Delisle,  12 
livres  roy.,  pp.  27-35,  pl-  8. 

13  193 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

Chapelle,  and  executed  (according  to  an  ancient  and 
credible  tradition)  for  Blanche  of  Castile,  the  pious  and 
devoted  mother  of  S.  Louis,  probably  between  the  date  of 
her  marriage  in  1200  and  her  husband's  accession  as 
Louis  VIII  in  1223.  In  the  arrangement  of  its  pre- 
liminary miniatures  this  manuscript  follows  the  method 
used  in  the  contemporary  English  Psalter,  Lansdowne 
420,  described  in  chapter  x,1  most  of  them  being  enclosed 
in  medallions,  two  of  which,  slightly  interlaced,  fill  the 
page.  The  subjects  are  nearly  identical  with  those  of  the 
Ingeburge  Psalter ;  but  artistically  the  work  hardly 
reaches  quite  so  high  a  level,  its  manner  being  less  large 
.  and  spacious,  more  minute.  The  page  devoted  to  the 
Crucifixion  and  Descent  from  the  Cross  is  specially 

1  interesting  as  containing  one  of  the  earliest  appearances 
of  the  symbolical  representation  of  the  Old  and  New 

v  Dispensations,  which  became  so  popular  in  Gothic  art : 
the  former,  a  tottering  woman,  holds  a  broken  lance  in 
one  hand,  while  the  Tables  of  the  Law  fall  from  the  other; 
the  latter  is  a  woman  standing  erect,  holding  cross  and 
chalice.  The  initials  to  the  Psalms  are  mostly  historiated 
with  the  usual  subjects  ;  but  the  "D"  of  Psalm  ci  has  a  lady 
kneeling  before  an  altar — probably  a  portrait  of  Blanche 
herself. 

These  two  manuscripts  show  the  high-water  mark  of 
French  illumination  at  this  period.  The  average  work 
was  of  course  greatly  inferior,  as  may  be  seen,  for  in- 
stance, in  a  Missal2  written  in  1218  by  an  Amiens  clerk 
named  Geroldus,  in  an  unidentified  abbey  dedicated  to 
SS.  Stephen  and  Martin,  and  probably  situated  in  the 
north-east  of  France.  Little  or  no  advance  is  apparent 
here  on  the  art  of  the  twelfth  century,  especially  in  the  one 
large  miniature,  a  full-page  Crucifixion,  prefixed  as  usual 
to  the  Canon,  and  characterized  chiefly  by  coarse  heavy 
drawing  and  hard  dull  colouring.  Less  unpleasing,  but 
equally  primitive,  are  the  few  historiated  initials  ;  and  the 

1  Above,  p.  179. 

2  Brit.  Mus.,  Add.  17742.     See  PaL  Soc.,  ii,  194. 
194 


FRENCH    ILLUMINATION,    13™    CENT. 

decorative  initials,  filled  with  intertwined  foliage-stems, 
lions,  greyhounds,  etc.,  have  little  to  distinguish  them 
from  those  found  in  late  twelfth  century  books  such  as 
the  great  Bibles  described  in  chapter  viii. 

Pre-Gothic  crudity  still  lingers  in  the  miniatures  of 
the  Vie  de  S.  Denis,1  executed  in  1250  at  the  great  abbey 
founded  in  his  honour ;  graphic,  clear,  and  forcible  though 
they  be,  viewed  merely  as  illustrations  of  the  narrative. 
They  naturally  challenge  comparison  with  the  late  twelfth 
century  English  pictures  of  the  life  of  S.  Cuthbert ; 8 
but  in  point  of  artistic  finish  they  fall  far  short  of  the 
earlier  work.  The  fact  is  that  about  this  time  illumina- 
tion was  ceasing  to  be  the  monopoly  of  the  religious 
orders,  and  was  beginning  to  grow  into  a  recognized  and 
organized  craft.  Names  of  illuminators  begin  to  appear 
in  records  ;  and  though  it  happens  but  rarely  that  the 
work  of  an  individual  can  be  identified,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  most  of  the  finely  illuminated  manuscripts 
which  France,  and  more  particularly  Paris,  soon  began  to 
produce  in  such  abundance,  were  executed  by  these  pro- 
fessional painters,  and  not  by  monks  or  clerics. 

At  the  same  time  secular  subjects  naturally  began  to 
claim  a  larger  share  of  the  miniaturist's  attention.  Refer- 
ence has  been  made  in  chapter  x  to  the  vogue  which 
illustrated  Herbals  and  Bestiaries  enjoyed  in  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries  ;  and  another  class  of  scientific 
picture-book,  more  strictly  scientific  and  therefore  far  less 
popular  and  numerous,  is  of  too  great  interest  to  be 
passed  over  in  silence.  The  great  majority  of  medieval 
text-books  of  medicine  and  surgery  have  no  illustrations 
at  all,  but  some  contain  diagrams  carefully  drawn  in 
outline,  aTid  a  few  have  fully  illuminated  pages  in  gold 
and  colours.  The  British  Museum  possesses  an  admir- 
able specimen  of  this  last  class  in  Sloane  1977,  a  French 
translation  of  Roger  of  Parma's  Treatise  on  Surgery, 

1  Bibl.  Nat.,  nouv.  acq.  fr.  1098.     Reproduced  in  1906,   Vie  et  Hist,  de  St. 
Denys,  with  preface  by  H.  Omont. 

2  Above,  p.  140. 

195 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

written  about  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century.  At 
the  beginning  are  sixteen  full-page  miniatures,  each 
divided  into  nine  compartments,1  and  planned  so  as 
to  combine  professional  instruction  with  a  reminder  of 
the  homage  due  to  religion :  the  three  topmost  com- 
partments containing  scenes  from  the  life  of  Christ, 
etc.,  painted  on  gold  or  diapered  grounds  under  trefoil- 
arched  canopies,  and  forming  a  complete  series  from  the 
Annunciation  to  the  Last  Judgment ;  while  the  remaining 
compartments  are  filled  with  illustrations  of  surgical 
treatment,  on  plain  blue  or  lake  grounds.  Farther  on 
in  the  volume  are  four  pages,  each  in  twelve  compart- 
ments, entirely  devoted  to  surgery,  preceded  by  a  full- 
page  representation  of  the  master  and  his  pupil  in  the 
dispensary.  The  delicate  and  expressive  draughtsman- 
ship of  these  little  pictures  is  a  delight  to  the  layman, 
while  members  of  the  faculty  find  an  added  joy,  not 
unmixed  with  surprise,  in  recognizing  their  scientific 
soundness  and  accuracy. 

Still,  despite  the  occasional  production  of  such  works 
as  this  and  other  secular  writings  (histories,  romances, 
chansons  de  geste  and  other  poems)  in  a  decorated  form, 
theology  and  liturgy  continued  to  supply  the  principal 
field  for  the  exercise  of  the  illuminator's  craft.  In  France, 
as  in  England,  copies  of  the  Latin  Bible  were  produced 
in  great  numbers ;  but  these  volumes  are  for  the  most 
part  interesting  as  curiosities,  from  the  exquisite  minute- 
ness of  script  and  figure-initials,  rather  than  strictly 
beautiful  or  important  in  relation  to  the  development  of 
art.  There  is  no  need,  therefore,  to  add  to  what  has 
been  said  on  this  subject  in  chapter  x,  beyond  mention- 
ing one  single  example  of  a  French  Bible.  Add.  35085 
in  the  British  Museum,  written  in  a  Dominican  house  in 
France  (perhaps  at  Clermont  in  Auvergne,  where  it  was 
in  the  sixteenth  century)  about  the  year  1250,  is  an 
excellent  specimen  of  the  most  compressed  type,  its 
pages  measuring  but  five  inches  by  three ;  its  Jesse-tree 

1  See  pi.  xxvii ;  Warner,  Reprod.,  i,  21. 
196 


ten 
the    bei 


the  to   r 

part  IT 


par 

i    Ol 

beautifi 


:d  t 


PLATE  XXV 


PSALTER.  FRENCH,  XIlIxH  CENT. 

BRIT.    MUS.,    ADD.    17868 


u! 


Ibatuwstpfc 


I  L  L  U  M  I  ' 

borders,   supporting  c 
and  other  figures,  on  2 
out  being  absolutely  fi 
sents  admirably  th 
exceptionally  charming  one. 

For  the  very  best  work  of  the  ; 
to  the  productions  of  the  Paris  school, 
two  exquisite  little  Psalters  wh  ck 

Louis  himself.1    The   me 


ibliotheque    Nationale 
the  ye- 
t    replica, 

Thompson's  coll 

and  about  the 

•  ^i c  ^ 
*-'*  "^'  undress 

:d  fro; 


mgs  a 
setting 
their  part 
actually    per  forme 
indeed,  full  of  that 
Gothic    painters    h 
characters   than   th 
One  thinks  of  a  M 
Abraham,  or  Solomon 

1  See  Haseloff,  Les  Psautie 
Antiquerircs  dt  France^  iix,  \. 

»  Omont,  Psautier  de  St.  L0 
*  Psalter  and  Hours  of  Isab 
198 


..ay. 

-vloses, 
of  the 

(m.  d«  la  Soc.  Nat 


PLATE  XXVI 


F*?? 

muucmm  mwoitotic 

mpttftru&iuaurtw 

ttoi/clhtttrgnoccU) 


I  dtcb  aumntolnnnis 


numcdo^tumpatt 
ttttr.cruiolcntttapt 
unrtllud,  Omncsc 


taics. 
mmctfcfhuhunrTa 


Jtt  et  uce  cum  wtmtt5 
lictfimtTatottquom 


ciwattonimtmbitjjt 
tumt«)l)cc.doit(col 


(frftuulaetcapctxto 
batuicstpfccft-bc 


tteaumn 
mca:'tu>n 
tmnfimt. 


nmu  fd  n 


tlfetiu% 
cr  dtfapu 


tncaduo 
uobts^fi 
ftin^arf 
ttrnatoe 


iliuxptlhfi 
lijia:ftcur 
fmptumcft- 


GOSPEL  LECTIONARY.  PARIS,  LATE  XIIIiH  CENT. 
BRIT.  MUS.  Ann.  17341 


II 


st  compilation 
Museum  (Harl.  1526- 
1150),   and  one  at 
mei  famih 

Even, 

and  tv  nes  of 

short  pas 
iization  or  all  1  inter 

wthe  oth 


ile  types, 
chalice, 

'  ded  p- 
ful  figure 

iher  pleasing 
. 

>V>**  man>  in 


'       ItS 


8  Add  18719. 
200 


PLATE  XX  VII 


SURGICAL  TREATISE  BY  ROGER   OF  PARMA.  FRENCH,  XIIIrH  CENT. 

BRIT.    MUS.    SI.OANK    1977 


i.  very 

A'hich   was    con 
Philip  III  by 

' 

foli;  figures,  and 

with  cu  leafy  terminations 

of  full-  niniat:  ustrat; 

their 

i  bythei 


by  tl 
ivid  and  Jonat 
;  Mercy  and  Avari 
;.nd   by 


• 

frit  A 

[JlC  CXUU1 

the  n 
rit^  I 

a  See  W 

• 

2O2 


PLATE  XXV I II 


SOMME  LE  ROI.    FRENCH,    CIRCA  1300 

BRIT.    MUS.    ADD.    28162 


h  art  a 

but  until  well  on 
t.h  and 

of  ti  ich  and 

xxi  i 

^ition  from   c 


Fie. 
oth 

:;y,  wh ' 

1i<rV»f  c 

The  Flemish 

• 

ar  fea 

rule: 


gold 

for  Fe 


i  among  the  I 


204 


PLATR  XXIX 


PSALTER.   FLEMISH,    XIIIrH   CENT. 

BRIT.    MUS.    ROY.    2   B    til. 


GERMAN    ILLUMINATION,    131*1    CENT. 

absorbed  the  spirit  of  the  French  Gothic,  and  become  less 
a  distinct  and  native  style  than  a  branch  of  that  great 
school  of  art. 

In  striking  contrast  to  these  minute  volumes,  so  far  as 
scale  is  concerned,  is  a  great  Antiphoner  in  three  stately 
volumes,  dated  1290,  and  emanating,  as  the  researches  of 
its  present  owner,  Mr.  Yates  Thompson,1  have  proved, 
from  the  Cistercian  nunnery  of  Beauprd  near  Grammont. 
Despite  their  large  size,  its  historiated  initials  are  not 
lacking  in  delicacy,  and  with  its  cusped  and  leafy  borders 
and  marginal  figures  show  how  thoroughly  the  new  spirit 
had  by  now  been  assimilated.  Especially  charming  in 
their  demure  grace  are  the  kneeling  patronesses,  "  Domi- 
cella  de  Viana"  and  "  Domicella  Clementia." 

The  Gothic  movement,  which  produced  such  a  re- 
markable development  of  the  art  of  illumination  in 
England,  France,  and  Flanders  during  the  thirteenth 
century,  left  Germany  almost  untouched.  German  minia- 
turists were  content,  for  the  most  part,  with  the  artistic 
formulae,  compounded  of  Byzantine  and  Romanesque 
traditions,  which  had  been  elaborated  during  the  twelfth 
century.  They  placidly  repeated  the  old  harsh,  lifeless 
types,  the  hard  flat  technique,  the  crude  and  discordant 
scheme  of  colour,  of  the  style  which  the  Rhenish  schools 
had  brought  to  such  perfection  as  it  was  capable  of  by  the 
end  of  the  twelfth  century.  In  fact,  Germany  ceased  to 
take  a  leading  place  in  the  history  of  book-decoration, 
and  the  subsequent  course  of  German  illumination  be- 
comes a  matter  of  interest  for  the  specialist  rather  than 
for  the  student  of  the  art  in  general,  and  of  its  most 
beautiful  forms  in  particular.  Some  mention  should 
indeed  be  made  of  such  fine  manuscripts  as  the  Wein- 
garten  Missals  in  Lord  Leicester's  library  at  Holkham,2 
and  of  the  numerous  and  exceedingly  interesting  group 

1  See  his  Descriptive  Catalogue,  iii,   1907,  pp.  55-74  (No.  83);  Burl.  F.A. 
Club,  Nos.  61-2,  pi.  54. 

2  Nos.  36,  37.     See  L.  Dorez,  Les  MSS.  d  peintures  de  la  bibl  de  Lord 
Leicester^  1908,  pi.  5-8, 12-21. 

2O7 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

of  early  thirteenth  century  Psalters  which  Dr.  Hase- 
loff l  has  subjected  to  so  searching  a  study,  and  which  is 
represented  in  the  British  Museum  by  Add.  i768y2  and 
18144.  This  must  suffice,  however,  in  a  brief  sketch 
like  the  present.3 

1  Eine  thiiringisch-sachsische  Malerschule  des  13.  Jahrhunderts^  1897. 

2  Warner,  Ilium.  MSS.,  pi.  19,  and  Reprod.,  i,  41. 

3  For  fuller  treatment  of  German  thirteenth  century  miniature  see  Haseloff 
in  Michel's  Hist.  deFArt,  ii,  i,  359-71,  and  the  bibliography  on  pp.  419-20. 


208 


CHAPTER  XII 
ILLUSTRATIONS   OF  THE  APOCALYPSE 

EXCEPT  the  Psalms  and  Gospels,  no  part  of  the 
Bible  was  more  popular  than  the  Apocalypse  in 
the  Middle  Ages  as  a  subject  for  pictorial  illustra- 
tion. Painters  of  the  Carolingian  period  had  already 
begun  to  find  themes  in  it  for  some  of  their  most  interest- 
ing miniatures,1  as  we  saw  in  chapter  v  ;  and  a  long 
series  of  compositions,  illustrating  the  whole  book,  seems 
to  have  been  devised  about  the  same  time.  This  series 
is  found  in  manuscripts  from  the  ninth  century  onwards, 
especially  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  ; 
usually  in  company  with  the  complete  Latin  or  vernacular 
text,  often  with  a  commentary  in  addition,  but  sometimes 
with  nothing  beyond  descriptive  legends  written  across 
the  field  of  the  pictures.  So  numerous,  important,  and 
distinctive  a  family  do  these  manuscripts  form  that  it 
seems  most  convenient  to  consider  them  as  a  separate 
class,  irrespective  of  date  or  nationality. 

The  first  appearance  of  a  regular  series  of  Apocalypse- 
pictures  is  in  the  illuminated  copies  of  a  Commentary  on 
the  Apocalypse,  composed  by  the  Spanish  monk  Beatus 
towards  the  end  of  the  eighth  century.  These  range  in 
date  from  the  ninth  century  to  the  thirteenth,  and  are  all, 
or  very  nearly  all,  of  Spanish  origin.2  In  the  history  of 
illumination  generally  Spain  occupies  quite  a  secondary 
position ;  one  might  even  say  a  negligible  position,  apart 
from  these  illustrations  of  the  Apocalypse  and  the  initial- 

1  See  pi.  xi. 

2  For  a  descriptive  list  see  Delisle,  Melanges  de  Paleographie  etde  Bibliographic, 
1880,    pp.   117-47,   supplemented  by  Konrad   Miller,   Die  dltesten    Weltkarten, 
Heft  i,   1895,  PP-  10-22,  and  by  Dr.  James  and  Dom  Ramsay  in  the  account  of 
Mr.  Yates  Thompson's  MS.,  cited  below. 

14  209 


ornaments  (of  a  bizarre  type,  partly  Merovingian  and 
partly  Celtic  in  style)  found  in  the  Mozarabic  liturgical 
books  and  other  manuscripts  of  the  tenth  to  twelfth  centu- 
ries.1 In  later  times  Spanish  illumination  was  essentially 
derivative  and  imitative,  French,  Italian,  and  Flemish 
influence  appearing  in  turn,  or  sometimes  simultaneously, 
producing  an  oddly  mixed  and  unsatisfactory  result.  It 
was  not  until  illumination  had  ceased  to  exist  as  a  living 
art  that  the  great  school  of  Spanish  painters  came  into 
being. 

Of  the  Beatus  manuscripts,  the  oldest  now  extant  is 
that  in  Mr.  Yates  Thompson's  collection,2  written  A.D.  394 
in  a  hitherto  unidentified  monastery  dedicated  to  S. 
Michael ;  clearly  in  Spain,  as  is  proved  by  the  form  of 
script  (Visigothic  minuscules),  by  certain  peculiarities  in 
spelling,  and  by  the  presence  of  marginal  notes  in  Spanish. 
The  cycle  of  pictures,  however,  most  probably  goes  back 
a  good  deal  earlier,  for  the  contrast  between  the  excellence 
of  the  compositions  and  the  ineptitude  of  the  technique 
suggests  that  the  illustrator  of  this  manuscript  was  a 
copyist  rather  than  an  original  artist.  Moreover,  in  all 
the  manuscripts  the  illustrations  of  Beatus,  and  of  S. 
Jerome's  commentary  on  Daniel  which  usually  follows 
it,  are  practically  the  same  as  to  number  and  subject, 
showing  plainly  that  all  are  derived  from  one  common 
archetype,  dating  perhaps  from  the  lifetime  of  Beatus 
himself.  The  British  Museum  possesses  one  of  these 
Beatus-codices,3  written  in  Silos  Abbey  between  1073  and 
1091,  and  illuminated  by  Pedro  the  Prior,  who  finished 
his  work  in  1 109 ;  and  its  agreement  with  the  Yates 
Thompson  MS.  is  almost  exact,  despite  the  interval  of 
more  than  two  centuries  which  separates  them.  In  style 

1  The  British  Museum  has  some  characteristic  examples  in  Add.  30844-6, 
30850,  and  30853,  from  Silos  Abbey  in  the  diocese  of  Burgos,  and  Add.  25600 
(see  Pal.  Soc.,  i,  95)  from  S.  Pedro  de  Cardena  in  the  same  diocese. 

2  No.  97,  described  very  fully  by  Dr.  James  in  the  Catalogue,  ii,  pp.  304-30, 
with  additional  notes  by  Dom  H.  L.  Ramsay  on  pp  373-6. 

3  Add.  11695.    See  Pal.  S0c.,  i,  48-9 ;  Ferotin,  Hist,  de  Vabbaye  de  Silos,  1897, 
pp.  264-9. 

2IO 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  APOCALYPSE 

too,  as  well  as  subject,  there  is  a  great  resemblance  ;  the 
Silos  manuscript  is  slightly  less  rude  and  primitive  than 
its  predecessor,  but  the  general  character  is  much  the  same 
in  both,  and  either  of  them  may  be  taken  as  typical  of  the 
whole  group.1 

So  strange  and  barbarous  is  the  art  of  these  manu- 
scripts, that  one  is  reminded  of  the  worst  productions  of 
the  Celtic  school.  But  while  Celtic  miniatures  are  gener- 
ally cheerful  in  their  grotesqueness,  here  we  find  an  air  of 
settled  melancholy;  dark  and  heavy  colour  accentuating 
the  effect  of  coarse  outlines  and  dull,  gloomy  faces.  The 
figures  are  stiff  and  wooden,  more  like  rudely  made  dolls 
than  human  beings ;  the  faces  are  monotonous  and  ill- 
drawn,  with  low  foreheads  and  large  staring  eyes  ;  there 
is  no  attempt  at  modelling  or  perspective.  The  composi- 
tions, on  the  other  hand,  large  and  elaborate  (many  of 
them  occupying  the  full  page,  and  some  extending  over  two 
pages),  are  often  well  planned  and  impressive.  Moorish 
influence  is  seen  in  the  uniform  employment  of 
the  horseshoe  arch  in  buildings,  frames,  and  arcades  ; 
also,  perhaps,  in  the  horizontally  striped  backgrounds  of 
red,  yellow,  dark  blue,  dark  green,  and  other  colours,  a 
prominent  feature  in  these  paintings.  The  conventional 
ornament  is  far  better  than  the  figure-compositions,  as  so 
often  happens  in  primitive  art.  Patterned  frames,  decor- 
ated with  cable,  plait,  and  knot,  surround  the  most  im- 
portant miniatures  ;  in  the  later  manuscripts  of  the  group 
great  cruciform  pages  appear,  and  symbolic  representa- 
tions of  the  glorified  Christ,  obviously  modelled  on  the 
emblematic  designs  of  the  Celtic  and  Carolingian  Gospel- 
books,  though  never  approaching  their  delicate  exactitude. 
The  initials  and  tail-pieces  too  deserve  mention.  Those 
in  the  Silos  manuscript  are  often  spirited  and  amusing : 
fishes,  birds,  beasts,  and  human  forms,  brightly  coloured 
and  sometimes  very  quaintly  combined,  form  the  initials; 

1  Another  good  example,  one  of  the  latest  of  the  group,  is  MS.  Lat.  8  in  the 
John  Rylands  Library  at  Manchester.  See  New  Pal.  Sffc.,pl.  167. 


211 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

among  the  tail-pieces  are  various  exploits  of  Reynard  the 
fox,  besides  figures  of  musicians,  soldiers,  etc. 

With  the  thirteenth  century  begins  that  remarkable 
series  of  Gothic  illustrations  of  the  Apocalypse,  of  which 
MM.  Delisle  and  Meyer  have  made  so  comprehensive 
and  minute  a  survey.1  Though  the  subjects  are  the  same, 
the  treatment  in  these  later  and  more  northerly  manu- 
scripts (mostly  produced  in  England,  France,  or 
Flanders)  is,  as  might  be  expected,  very  different  from 
that  of  their  semi-barbarous  Spanish  ancestors.  In  the 
best  we  find  some  of  the  most  perfect  examples  of  early 
Gothic  painting,  with  a  poetic  fancy  exercising  itself  on 
material  of  the  most  suggestive  kind  ;  in  the  worst,  an 
abundance  of  that  medieval  humour  which  found  such 
congenial  expression  in  the  gargoyles  and  grotesques  of 
ecclesiastical  sculpture. 

These  manuscripts  must  have  been  extremely 
numerous.  M.  Delisle  mentions  no  less  than  fifty-nine, 
ranging  in  date  from  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  to 
the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century ;  and  he  describes  many 
of  them  in  full  detail,  especially  the  first  sixteen,  for 
which  he  gives  a  tabular  list  of  all  the  miniatures.  He 
divides  them  into  two  families,  according  to  the  subjects 
illustrated ;  but  this  classification  cannot  be  rigidly 
applied,  for  many  of  the  manuscripts  which  he  assigns  to 
the  second  family  contain  one  or  more  of  the  scenes  which 
he  regards  as  distinguishing  marks  of  the  first.  One 
might,  no  doubt,  choose  other  principles  of  grouping,  e.g. 
separating  the  illustrations  in  tinted  outline  from  those 
painted  in  body-colour,  or  those  which  are  accompanied 
by  the  text  from  those  which  merely  bear  scrolls  with 
descriptive  legends.  Any  such  system,  however,  would 
be  open  to  objection :  the  full  truth  as  to  the  inter- 
dependence of  these  manuscripts  which  remain,  and  of  the 
many  more  which  must  have  perished,  to  say  nothing  of 

1  L* Apocalypse  en  fran^ais,  1901,  forming  an  introduction  to  the  facsimiles 
of  the  miniatures  in  Bibl.  Nat.  MS.  fr.  403,  published  by  the  Societe  des  anciens 
textes  franqais. 


212 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  APOCALYPSE 

their  connection  with  Apocalypse-illustrations  in  other 
forms  of  art,1  is  too  obscure  and  complicated  a  matter  to 
be  ascertained  readily  or  stated  tersely.  No  attempt  can 
be  made  here,  at  any  rate,  to  do  more  than  call  attention 
to  one  or  two  of  the  most  important  of  these  interesting 
specimens  of  the  illustrative  art  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Two  excellent  and  closely  related  examples  of  the 
tinted  outline  class  are  the  Bodleian  MS.  Auct.  D.  4.  17  2 
and  the  Paris  MS.  Bibl.  Nat.  fr.  403, 3  both  produced  in 
England  about  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century. 
They  belong  to  what  M.  Delisle  calls  the  first  family,  and 
begin  and  end  with  scenes  from  the  life  of  S.  John.  The 
former  contains  no  text  beyond  explanatory  inscriptions 
in  red  and  blue  letters  on  the  backgrounds  of  the  minia- 
tures, which  fill  the  page,  being  usually  divided  into  two 
compartments.  No  such  inscriptions  appear  in  the  Paris 
MS.,  though  blank  tablets  and  scrolls  evidently  intended  for 
their  reception  are  in  most  of  the  miniatures ;  but  the  full 
text  of  the  Apocalypse,  with  a  commentary,  both  in  French, 
occupies  the  lower  half  of  each  of  the  pictured  pages. 
Leaning  towards  the  grotesque  rather  than  the  poetical, 
these  drawings  are  truly  illustrative,  unconstrained,  and 
full  of  life.  The  type  of  figure  is  much  the  same  in  both 
manuscripts :  large,  rather  elongated  personages,  angels 
and  saints  having  sleek  rounded  faces,  while  devils,  false 
witnesses,  and  executioners  have  rugged  features,  with 
extraordinary  hooked  noses.  The  compositions  in  the 
Oxford  MS.  have  a  tendency  to  be  overcrowded,  the 
artist's  desire  to  illustrate  every  detail  of  his  subject  being 
stronger,  apparently,  than  his  instinct  for  spaciousness  of 
design.  The  Paris  MS.  errs  less  in  this  respect.  Amongst 
much  that  is  grotesque,  it  has  several  impressive,  some 
almost  beautiful  miniatures ;  especially  the  Marriage  of 

1  See,  for  instance,  Delisle's  interesting  chapter  on  the  tapestries  in  Angers 
Cathedral,  pp.  clxxvi-cxci. 

2  Reproduced  by  the  Roxburghe  Club,  The  Apocalypse  of  S.  John  the  Divine^ 
ed.  H.  O.  Coxe,  1876. 

3  Published  in  facsimile  by  the  Soc.  des.  anc.  textes  fr.,  as  noted  above, 
p.  212. 

213 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

the  Lamb,  which  already  shows  signs  of  the  delicate 
charm  distinctive  of  the  best  Gothic  art. 

Akin  to  these  two  books  is  the  British  Museum  MS. 
Add.  35I66,1  executed  in  England  late  in  the  thirteenth 
century.  Though  placed  by  Delisle  in  the  second  family, 
it  includes  the  two  series  of  scenes  from  the  life  of  S.  John 
(the  second  series  unusually  long),  so  it  forms  a  link 
between  the  two  families ;  it  also  contains  a  somewhat 
rare  subject,  "  the  woman  drunken  with  the  blood  of  the 
saints"  (Apoc.  xvii.  6),  very  graphically  treated.  The 
miniatures,  which  are  drawn  in  outline  and  tinted  in  pale 
colours,  fill  only  the  upper  half  of  each  page,  the  lower 
half  containing  the  full  Latin  text  with  a  Latin  com- 
mentary; there  are  no  descriptive  legends  inside  the 
frames  of  the  pictures.  The  paintings  are  softer,  more 
delicate  and  less  crisp  than  those  of  the  Oxford  and  Paris 
MSS. ;  the  faces,  mostly  gentle  to  the  point  of  weakness, 
are  rendered  expressive  by  skilful  and  delicate  pen-work  ; 
the  figures  are  long  and  slender,  but  not  ungraceful ;  the 
draperies  are  well  handled,  with  gradation  of  local  colour 
as  well  as  pen-strokes.  Burnished  gold  is  used  for  nimbi 
and  other  accessories,  and  parts  of  the  backgrounds  are 
painted  red,  blue  or  green  in  body-colour.  There  is  less 
vivacity  but  more  dignity,  on  the  whole,  than  in  the  two 
earlier  books. 

Much  more  beautiful  than  any  of  these  three,  indeed 
one  of  the  finest  of  all  extant  copies  of  the  Apocalypse,  is 
MS.  R.  1 6.  2  in  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.2  Written  in 
England,  not  improbably  at  S.  Alban's,  about  the  year 
1230,  this  splendid  manuscript  is  hardly  surpassed  by  any 
of  its  contemporaries.  Its  ninety-one  miniatures,  while 
lacking  the  minute  delicacy  of  the  smaller  designs  which 
adorn  the  best  French  and  English  Psalters  of  the  time, 
atone  for  this  deficiency  by  the  richness  of  their  colouring 
and  the  dramatic  force  and  vigour  of  their  compositions. 

1  Warner,  Reprod.,  ii,  12. 

*  New  Pal.  Soc.t  pi.  38-9.     Reproduced  for  the  Roxburghe  Club,  ed.  M.  R. 
James,  1910. 

214 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  APOCALYPSE 

It  is  in  the  battle  scenes,  naturally,  that  the  latter  quality 
is  displayed  most  effectively ;  the  artists  (for  more  hands 
than  one  are  discernible)  are  less  successful  in  their  treat- 
ment of  subjects  of  a  more  reposeful  character.  In  fact, 
if  we  divide  the  Apocalypse  MSS.  into  two  classes 
accordingly  as  the  grotesque  or  poetical  imagination 
predominates,  the  Trinity  MS.  must  be  assigned  to  the 
former  rather  than  the  latter,  though  by  no  means  void 
of  single  figures  rich  in  delicate  charm,  such  as  the 
winged  woman  flying  into  the  wilderness  (xii.  14). 

The  poetical  and  devotional  element  is  uppermost  in 
Mr.  Yates  Thompson's  beautiful  manuscript,1  written  to- 
wards the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  very  profusely 
illuminated  in  England  or  the  north  of  France.  Like  the 
Lambeth  MS.  209,  with  which  it  is  closely  related,  it 
contains  the  Latin  text  with  the  commentary  of  Beren- 
gaudus ; 2  but  it  stands  alone  in  the  wealth  of  its  decora- 
tion, having  no  fewer  than  152  miniatures,  which  illustrate 
not  only  the  usual  cycle  of  subjects  from  the  Vision  itself, 
but  also  their  scriptural  and  historical  antitypes  as  set 
forth  in  the  commentary.  Interesting  by  reason  of  its 
symbolism,  the  book  is  also  delightful  from  an  artistic 
point  of  view,  for  its  graceful  figures,  with  naive  appealing 
expressions,  and  for  the  beauty  and  variety  of  its  colour- 
ing, burnished  gold  and  deep  blue  being  freely  used,  as 
well  as  the  more  delicate  harmonies  of  grey,  green,  and 
white. 

The  Lambeth  Apocalypse3  belongs  to  the  same  period, 
perhaps  a  trifle  later,  and  was  probably  written  and 
illuminated  at  S.  Augustine's  Abbey,  Canterbury.  It  has 
seventy-eight  half-page  miniatures  in  plain  banded  frames, 

1  No.  55.     See  Catalogue^  ii,  pp.  20-39;  H.  Y.  Thompson,  Lecture  on  some 
Eng.  Ilium.  MSS.,  1902,  pp.  16-20,  pi.  7-13;  Delisle  and  Meyer,  pp.  xc-cvi,  and 
Appendix,  pi.  7-12. 

2  For  other  illustrated  copies  containing  this  commentary,  though  not  artistic- 
ally related  to  the  above,  see  Burl.  F.A.  Club,  Nos.  88,  89,  pi.  74. 

3  No.  209  in  the  Archiepiscopal  Library.     See  S.  W.  Kershaw,  Art  Treasures 
of  the  Lambeth  Library,  1873,  pp.  47-54  (2  plates);  Pal.  Soc.,  ii,  195;  Burl.  F.A. 
Club,  No.  87,  pi.  73. 

215 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

and  at  the  end  a  series  of  tinted  drawings  of  scenes  in  the 
life  of  Christ,  miracles  of  the  Virgin,  and  figures  of 
saints.  In  the  miniatures,  pale  and  delicately  drawn 
figures  are  contrasted  against  brilliant  backgrounds  of 
blue,  purple,  or  stippled  and  burnished  gold,  usually  con- 
sisting of  a  central  panel  framed  in  a  broad  border,  the 
blue  and  purple  sometimes  diapered.  The  figures  are 
slender  and  elegant,  the  angels  being  particularly  graceful. 
The  outlining  and  modelling  of  the  flesh  are  in  sepia, 
giving  a  much  softer  effect  than  the  usual  black  ink ;  the 
drapery  folds  are  indicated  with  light  colours,  chiefly 
grey,  brown,  and  green.  Specially  pleasing  is  the  figure 
of  S.  John,  a  tall  slim  person  with  curly  hair  and  short 
beard,  who  appears,  as  usual,  in  every  picture  as  spectator 
or  interlocutor. 

Less  powerful  and  original  than  the  Yates  Thompson 
MS.,  but  more  delicately  lovely,  is  Douce  180  in  the 
Bodleian.1  This  exquisite  book  shows  English  painting 
of  the  late  thirteenth  century  at  its  best ;  it  has  advanced 
beyond  the  formalism  and  severity  of  Early  Gothic,  and  has 
not  yet  begun  to  grapple  with  the  problems  and  subtleties 
of  modern  art.  The  white  vellum  backgrounds,  soft 
pale  colours,  and  careful  space-filling,  together  with  the 
sweet  and  gracious  forms  of  the  personages  represented, 
give  these  miniatures  a  dainty,  poetical,  and  altogether 
irresistible  charm.  Some  of  them  are  merely  drawn  in 
outline,  in  others  the  colouring  and  gilding  have  been 
left  at  various  stages  of  unfinishedness.  The  angels  are 
of  monastic  type,  massive  and  dignified,  with  tonsured 
heads,  grave  and  gentle  expressions.  One  of  the  most 
delightful  miniatures  in  the  book  is  that  of  the  vineyard,2 
where  the  successive  incidents  of  Apoc.  xiv.  17-20  are 
naively  depicted  in  one  composition,  without  a  hint  of 
division  and  yet  with  no  overcrowding  of  the  canvas  :  the 
angel  with  the  sickle  coming  out  of  the  temple,  taking 

1  Pal.  Soc.,  ii,  77.     The  editors  judged  it  of  French  origin,  but  linguistic  con- 
siderations point  to  England.     See  Delisle  and  Meyer,  p.  cxxi. 

2  PI.  xxx. 

216 


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jfttam  tttimam  (rtttnmniautrttt 

irteamimt£rmtftrmlammttt! 

tci  magmtm.er(ai(atu6  cfttams 

?ora  atttmimi.-  crcntttr  fengttte 


qm  ttwmplo  onfto  utffi»rfr.-?i^uftmrnfta«pt 
icttoe  (tcao»  mUvna  ttimlafoMmre.  alrair  autf 
ttham  ftg»nftrrtr.f!n!rTBrapUt!n.prrtgnon  d«8 
mtttmtiii  u)fftirm»  imriltonr  n:uimmiojdi&> 


ipicni  fenm  pjttftmon  tifir 


<iuin  iinoi'Uiiii  t'cniutani  falonn  srmrttm.quf 
xyir.figiiiftcrtCTc  tftoiiuw  uruttitaniftitftoixoft 
limit  ttitrprrqiw&impu  Kfl^iiAiinir-quta  itsu 
fRiiitmro conoio gnus* Tnimaniirr  i mnoniB; 


APOCALYPSE.  ENGLISH,  LATE  XIIIxH  CENT. 

OXFORD,  BODL.  DOUCE  180 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  APOCALYPSE 

belonged  to  the  Carthusian  monastery  of  Val-Dieu,  near 
Mortagne.  It  has  eighty-three  half-page  miniatures, 
drawn  and  painted  with  great  delicacy  and  finish,  on 
backgrounds  of  plain  dark  colour,  or  more  often  diapered 
with  a  great  variety  of  tessellated  patterns.  Buildings 
are  drawn  with  no  less  minute  accuracy  than  in  Add. 
J8633;  and  the  slender  graceful  figures,  the  exquisite 
expressive  faces,  the  finely  painted  birds  and  monsters 
which  enliven  the  borders,  combine  with  the  harmonies  of 
colour  and  composition  to  put  this  in  the  front  rank  of 
Apocalypse  manuscripts. 

About  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  the 
demand  for  these  illustrations  seems  to  have  ceased 
among  connoisseurs  of  art ;  for  a  marked  and  rapid 
decline  is  apparent  in  the  quality  of  those  produced  after 
that  time,  and  their  chief  interest,  as  regards  the  history 
of  design,  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  form  a  link  in 
the  chain  which  connects  the  Spanish  paintings  of  the 
ninth  century  with  Dutch  or  German  woodcuts  of  the 
fifteenth. 


219 


CHAPTER  XIII 

ENGLISH    ILLUMINATION    IN   THE   FOURTEENTH   AND 
FIFTEENTH   CENTURIES 

THE  first  quarter  of  the  fourteenth  century  was 
the  real  flowering-time  of  English  illumination. 
Other  periods  have  bequeathed  to  us  an  abun- 
dance of  good  work,  each  with  its  special  points  of  excel- 
lence, but  also  with  its  special  foibles.  In  this,  however, 
a  peculiarly  satisfying  balance  was  struck  between  the 
various  conflicting  elements  of  book-decoration  :  realism, 
imagination,  and  tradition,  illustration  and  ornament, 
were  blended  with  unerring  nicety  of  adjustment,  by 
artists  possessed  of  a  greater  technical  dexterity  and  a 
more  thorough  naturalism  than  their  early  Gothic 
predecessors ;  and  a  harmonious  perfection  resulted, 
which  has  hardly  been  surpassed  in  all  the  history  of 
the  art. 

This  perfection  was  already  foreshadowed  in  the 
closing  years  of  the  thirteenth  century,  to  which  Mr. 
Pierpont  Morgan's  "Windmill "  Psalter1  perhaps  belongs, 
though  its  rich,  fully  developed  style  suggests  rather  the 
opening  years  of  the  fourteenth.  It  is  indeed  not  easy  to 
find  a  parallel  to  the  two  magnificent  pages  with  which 
Psalm  i  begins.  The  first  is  filled  with  the  initial  "  B,"  on 
a  diapered  ground,  enclosed  in  a  rectangular  frame  set  with 
medallions  of  the  Creation,  etc.,  on  gold  grounds,  and 
itself  enclosing  a  Jesse-tree.  The  letter  "  E,"  continuing 
the  word  Beatus,  takes  up  half  the  next  page  ;  it  is 
surrounded  with  a  wonderfully  delicate  and  intricate  lace- 
work  design  of  leaves  and  flourishes  drawn  in  red  and 

1  M.  R.  James,  Cat.  of  MSS.  in  the  Library  of  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  pp.  41-3 
(four  plates) ;  Burl.  F.A.  Club,  No.  47,  pi.  44. 

220 


CHAPTEI 

LISH  ATION 

FIFTEENTH 


t  quarter  o<  :ith 

real    fl 


ttti 


though 
opening  year: 
find  a  parallel  t 
1m  i  begins.    Tl 
1  ground, 
is  of  the 
(g  a  J. 

the  word  Becttitst  takes 
surrounded  with  a  wor 
work  design  of  leaves  : 

1  M,  R.  James,  Cat,  of  At 

plates) ;  Burl  F./. 

220 


PLATE    XXXI 


it  U  viable  Kimr  en  feme  te  Ifmc  H  la  f&nc  M<x  etcmnro  V  for>  mar. 
cnfortqcdciicsoitt  otHidralc'pm'tw  narrttnttltnu'^-p^ 
c  fiac  vn abornon  tic  toticu  a  bcftt-  e  il  tcwna  rote  €  iffint  fifr  ck 


ft 


l^r  A; 


^C: 


i  comentc  5^oc  n  rtvxrmtttr- 1  Ic  tntmcr  roup  qii  ferur.  ntte  Ic  moiuta  u  : 
10»  vint  vn  mmgel  ft  u:  cil  tna  nwro-  Lt  angct  U  w  tuas  malfcr  1x6 
->  **^ T  (y^x1*  n*  va5»  c  to  dciHs-.  c chciic  M  nccf  le  men*  DC  tu  ptims  <car "  flao S'^  • 
iC.%joi«»utttt 

t- 


^/vS 


PSALTER.   ENGLISH,   EARLY   XIVxH   CENT 

BRIT.    MUS.    ROY.    2    B   VII. 


PLATE  XXXII 


mmnaumvjq 

jMDatftnmc 
iftruefumfl! 


PSALTER.  ENGLISH,  EARLY  XIV™  CENT. 

BRIT.  MUS.,  ROY.  2  B  VII. 


ENGLISH    ILLUMINATION    AFTER    1300 

cate  that  it  was  made  either  for  Sir  William  Howard,  who 
died  in  1308  and  was  buried  at  East  Winch  near  Lynn, 
or  for  Alice  Fitton  his  wife.  The  opening  page  of  the 
Psalter  is,  as  usual,  the  most  elaborate:  the  "  B  "  encloses 
a  Jesse-tree,  and  the  two  columns  of  text  are  framed  in  a 
border  resplendent  with  gold  and  colours,  filled  with  inter- 
twining foliage-stems  whose  curves  form  panels  for  figures 
of  Patriarchs  and  Prophets  on  both  sides,  a  Crucifixion  at 
the  top,  and  the  Evangelistic  emblems  at  the  corners.  At 
the  foot  of  the  page,  between  text  and  frame,  is  a  lively 
picture  of  a  woodland  scene,  with  stag  and  hind,  rabbit, 
and  a  fowler  crouching  under  a  bush  and  luring  birds  with 
an  owl;  all  carefully  and  admirably  painted,  and  full  of  an 
animation  the  more  vivid  from  its  contrast  with  the  con- 
ventionalism of  the  more  strictly  appropriate  scriptural 
figures.  The  other  divisions  of  the  Psalter  have  miniature- 
initials  on  grounds  of  burnished  and  stippled  gold,  and 
borders  of  cusped  bars  and  foliage-stems,  supporting  gro- 
tesques and  decorated  with  ivy,  oak  and  vine  leaves;  daisy- 
buds,  afterwards  a  favourite  device  in  English  borders, 
also  occur. 

The  emblematic  diagrams,  which  figure  in  both  manu- 
scripts, are  exceedingly  curious :  they  include  a  seraph 
whose  wings  are  inscribed  with  moral  qualities,  illustra- 
tions of  the  Creed,  tables  of  virtues  and  vices,  and  a  repre- 
sentation of  the  Cross  as  the  Tree  of  Life.  In  the  second 
manuscript  the  series  is  fuller,  and  contains  a  painting  of 
the  stages  of  human  life  in  ten  medallions,  the  first  an 
infant  on  its  mother's  lap,  the  last  a  tomb;  also  the  Three 
Living  and  Three  Dead  Kings — a  subject  found  in  East 
Anglian  wall-paintings  of  this  period,1  and  very  popular 
at  a  later  date  in  Flemish  Books  of  Hours. 

Of  greater  artistic  merit,  indeed  of  singular  beauty,  are 
the  additional  pages  in  Robert  de  Lyle's  book.  The  life 
of  Christ  miniatures  are  in  two  series,  by  two  different 

1  e.g.  at  Gorleston,  possibly  the  birthplace  of  this  very  book,  and  at  Wick- 
hampton  and  Belton.  See  Cockerell,  p.  7,  and  G.  E.  Fox  in  the  Victoria  History 
of  Norfolk,  vol.  ii,  1906,  p.  547. 

15  225 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

hands :  the  first  eighteen,  arranged  in  compartments,  six 
to  a  page,  within  cusped  quatrefoils,  are  exquisitely  painted 
in  subdued  tints,  a  soft  greyish  blue  predominating,  and 
are  set  on  grounds  of  stippled  gold  and  diapered  colours 
alternately.  The  faces  are  too  long  for  correct  proportions, 
anatomy  is  often  at  fault,  and  the  compositions  are  lacking 
in  vigour  and  movement ;  but  with  all  this  there  is  an 
indescribable  charm  about  the  pictures,  the  gentle,  repose- 
ful faces  and  quiet,  solemn  gestures  expressing  well  the 
reverential  awe  with  which  the  artist  approached  his  sub- 
ject. The  remaining  eight,  separated  from  these  by  some 
pages,  are  in  the  same  style,  but  of  somewhat  inferior 
workmanship.  Two  of  the  intervening  pages  are  filled 
with  large  miniatures  which  show  East  Anglian  painting 
at  its  best.  One  of  these1  represents  the  Madonna  and 
Child  under  a  canopy,  against  a  background  of  gold  highly 
burnished  and  covered  with  a  finely  stippled  pattern  of 
foliage  scroll-work;  the  Child  is  playing  with  a  goldfinch, 
and  the  Virgin's  feet  rest  on  a  dragon  and  a  lion  ;  in  the 
spandrels  are  angels  with  censers,  and  on  either  side  are 
saints  in  niches.  The  other  is  a  Crucifixion,  painted  on 
a  background  of  lozenges  filled  with  fleurs-de-lis  and 
heraldic  lions ;  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  Adam  sits  up  in 
his  tomb  and  holds  up  a  chalice  to  catch  the  Redeemer's 
blood ;  at  the  top  are  two  angels  with  discs  to  represent 
the  sun  and  moon,  between  them  a  pelican  feeding  her 
young,  an  emblem  of  the  Redemption. 

We  come  next  to  two  Psalters  definitely  associated  with 
Gorleston  in  Suffolk,  two  miles  south  of  Yarmouth  ;  both 
of  the  very  highest  excellence,  and  closely  allied  to  the 
Arundel  MS.  These  are  MS.  171  in  the  Public  Library 
at  Douai,2  and  the  book  which  was  long  famous  as  Lord 
Braybrooke's  Psalter,  but  is  now  one  of  the  gems  in  the 
collection  of  Mr.  C.  W.  Dyson  Perrins,  who  prefers  to 
call  it  the  Gorleston  Psalter.3  The  Douai  Psalter  was 

1  PI.  xxxiii.  2  New  Pal.  Soc.,  pi.  14-16;  Cockerell,  pi.  16-18. 

3  It  forms  the  main  subject  of  Mr.  Cockerell's  often-cited  monograph,  in 
which  pi.  1-14  show  eight  full  pages  and  a  great  number  of  marginal  subjects. 

226 


hands:  t 

'.ge,  withir 
in  subdir 


ith  which  tne 

vie 

• 


leston  in 
of  the  v-ei 
Arundel  MS 
at  Douai,*  ai 

ybrooi. 


PLATE  XXXIII 


PSALTER.  EAST  ANGLIAN,  EARLY  XIViH  CENT. 

BRIT.    MUS.,    ARUNDEL    83 


ENGLISH    ILLUMINATION    AFTER    1300 

Gorleston.  Except  for  a  few  pages,  it  is  much  less  richly 
decorated  than  the  Perrins  MS. ;  but  those  few  pages  are 
superb,  especially  the  Beatus  vir,  in  which  the  illumina- 
tion covers  the  whole  page,  kneeling  portraits  of  a  monk 
(doubtless  Robert  of  Ormesby  himself)  and  bishop  having 
been  painted  in  on  square  panels  over  the  few  lines  of 
text  which  were  originally  there.  The  plant-forms  in  the 
borders  are  exceptionally  light  and  varied,  cornflowers, 
bluebells,  and  other  flowers  appearing  as  well  as  the  usual 
oak  and  ivy  leaves. 

Slightly  later,  perhaps,  and  representing  East  Anglian 
work  at  its  greatest  height  of  technical  perfection,  is  the 
Psalter  in  Mr.  Yates  Thompson's  collection,1  begun  for  a 
member  of  the  St.  Omer  family,  of  Mulbarton  in  Norfolk, 
but  left  unfinished  by  the  fourteenth  century  illuminators, 
and  completed  about  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury. Its  Beatus  vir  page  is  indeed  the  ne  plus  ultra  of 
this  particular  style  of  illumination,  combining  a  rich, 
yet  spacious  and  not  overladen  scheme  of  decoration  with 
minute  and  exquisite  delicacy  in  the  spirited  little  figure- 
compositions,  and  with  the  utmost  fertility  in  invention ; 
the  plant-forms  are  as  varied  as  in  the  Ormesby  Psalter, 
and  bears,  unicorns,  stags,  birds  of  all  kinds,  and  tiny 
human  figures  are  perched  here  and  there  on  the  stems, 
quite  irrelevantly  and  yet  with  a  perfect  decorative  fitness. 

The  Louterell  Psalter2  in  the  Lulworth  Castle  Library, 
made  for  Sir  Geoffrey  Louterell,  of  Irnham  in  Lincoln- 
shire, about  1340,  shows  the  East  Anglian  style  already 
beginning  to  decay.  It  has  historiated  initials  of  a  hard, 
brightly  coloured,  expressionless  type ;  but  its  chief 
decoration  is  the  marginal  ornament,  which  is  amazing 
in  its  mass,  variety,  and  incoherence.  Regardless  of  all 
sense  of  proportion  or  congruity,  the  illuminators  have 
covered  the  margins  with  a  mixture  of  studies  of  con- 
temporary life,  fabliaux,  and  gigantic,  sometimes  quaint, 

1  No.  58,  described  by  Sir  G.  Warner  in  the  Catalogue ',  ii,  pp.  74-82.  See  too 
H.  Y.  Thompson,  Facsimiles  from  a  Psalter •,  1900,  and  Lecture  on  some  Eng. 
Ilium.  MSS.,  1902,  pp.  23-5,  pi.  31-6 ;  Cockerell,  pi.  15. 

*  New  Pal.  Soc.,  pi.  41-3. 

229 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

but  often  merely  hideous,  grotesques.  Many  of  the 
subjects,  taken  apart  from  their  surroundings,  are  charm- 
ing, ingenious,  full  of  vivacity :  such  are  the  delightful 
series  of  scenes  in  a  medieval  kitchen,  with  pots  boiling, 
and  game  on  a  spit  before  an  open  fire,  tended  by  lightly 
clad  and  heated  cooks ;  the  Castle  of  Love,  defended  by 
ladies  who  throw  roses  from  the  battlements  ;  the  picture 
of  Constantinople  as  a  walled  city ;  the  ladies  in  a  long, 
covered  travelling-coach  drawn  by  five  horses;  the  portrait 
of  Sir  Geoffrey  Louterell  on  horseback,  taking  leave  of 
his  wife  and  daughter-in-law,  who  hand  up  to  him  his 
helmet,  shield,  and  lance.  In  fact,  to  the  antiquary  the 
book  is  a  perfect  treasure-house,  though  the  beauty-lover 
must  deplore  its  crude,  ill-assorted  designs  and  its  garish, 
bizarre  colouring. 

About  the  middle  of  the  century  the  East  Anglian 
school,  already  decadent,  seems  to  have  died  out  as 
suddenly  as  it  had  sprung  up ;  perhaps  through  the 
ravages  of  the  Black  Death,  which  devastated  England 
in  1348-9,  visiting  Norfolk  with  especial  severity.  What- 
ever the  cause,  there  is  a  great  dearth  of  good  English 
work  from  the  middle  until  very  near  the  end  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  During  the  greater  part  of  the  cen- 
tury, indeed,  apart  from  the  East  Anglian  group,  Queen 
Mary's  Psalter,  and  a  few  other  choice  books  of  the  same 
period,  English  illumination  is  not  so  much  beautiful  as 
valuable  and  interesting  for  the  wealth,  vigour,  and 
expressiveness  of  its  illustrations  of  folk-lore,  popular 
legend  (sacred  or  profane),  and  contemporary  life.  In 
this  category  come  such  books  as  Roy.  10  E.  iv,  a  copy 
of  the  Decretals  of  Gregory  IX,  written  in  Italy  but 
illuminated  in  England,  perhaps  by  the  canons  of 
S.  Bartholomew's,  Smithfield  ;  its  lower  margins  filled 
with  rough  but  very  lively  and  diverting  coloured  draw- 
ings, forming  a  vast  medley  of  Bible-history  and  hagio- 
graphy  jostling  up  against  less  edifying  literature, 
intermingled  with  fables,  allegories,  and  sketches  from 
everyday  life — distracting,  if  not  uninstructive,  to  the 
230 


ENGLISH    ILLUMINATION    AFTER    1300 

student  of  Canon  law.1  Here  too  we  must  class  the 
Taymouth  Horae  in  Mr.  Yates  Thompson's  collection,2 
with  its  delicious  pictures  of  the  sportswoman's  exploits ; 
the  Carew-Poyntz  Horae  in  the  Fitzwilliam  Museum  at 
Cambridge,3  with  its  long  series  of  illustrations  of  the 
Mary-legends ;  and  a  Horae  in  the  British  Museum,4  less 
copiously  and  much  less  finely  illuminated  than  these, 
but  interesting  because  of  its  unusual  choice  of  subjects. 
Even  the  Psalter  of  Queen  Philippa,5  executed  apparently 
between  1328  and  1340,  graceful  as  its  bordered  pages 
are  with  their  light  sprays  of  foliage,  is  not  of  first-rate 
importance  artistically ;  moreover,  both  the  borders  and 
the  miniature-initials,  with  their  backgrounds  covered 
with  gilt  scroll-work,  show  strong  traces  of  French  in- 
fluence, and  cannot  be  regarded  as  characteristic  English 
work  of  the  time. 

The  progressive  deterioration  that  went  on  during  the 
latter  half  of  the  fourteenth  century  may  be  seen  in  such 
manuscripts  as  the  Missal6  of  Nicholas  Lytlington,  Abbot 
of  Westminster  (1362-86),  still  preserved  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  or  the  huge  Wydiffite  Bible7  made  for  Thomas 
of  Woodstock,  Duke  of  Gloucester  (d.  1397).  The  typical 
border  has  now  become  a  framework  of  narrow  rigid  bars, 
sometimes  broken  midway  and  replaced  by  a  sort  of 
festoon  of  close-set  foliage,  but  mostly  diversified  only 
by  leafy  bosses  at  the  corners  (a  curious  reversion  to  the 
tenth  century  Winchester  style,  as  Sir  G.  Warner  has  re- 
marked) and  by  short-stalked  leaves  or  buds  (usually  in 
pairs  or  threes)  and  sprays  of  foliage  thrown  out  at 
intervals.  The  total  effect  is  heavy  and  dull,  despite  the 
plenteous  use  of  gold. 

1  For  a  full  list  of  subjects,  etc.,  see  the  new  Catalogue  of  the  Royal  MSS. 

-  No.  57.  See  Cat.,  ii,  pp.  50-74,  and  Lecture  on  some  Eng.  Ilium.  MSS., 
pp.  20-3,  pi.  14-3°- 

1  No.  48.     See  M.  R.  James,  Cat.  of  Fitzwilliam  MSS.,  1895,  pp.  100-20. 

4  Eg.  2781.  See  Warner,  Reprod.,\\,  15;  Titus  and  Vespasian,  Roxburghe 
Club,  1905  (two  coloured  plates.)  5  Harl.  2899.  See  Warner,  Reprod.,  i,  14. 

6  Missale  ad  usum  EccL  Westmonast.,  ed.  J.  Wickham  Legg,  Hen.  Bradshaw 
Soc.,  1891-7. 

7  Eg.  617-18.     See  Pal.  Soc.,  i,  171 ;  Kenyon,  Biblical  MSS.,  pi.  24. 

231 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

Just  before  the  end  of  the  century,  however,  a  new 
spirit  was  infused  into  English  illumination,  and  the  art 
revived  and  flourished  for  a  short  time  in  a  style  quite 
unlike  that  of  the  preceding  period.  This  happy  result 
is  generally  ascribed  to  the  influence  of  Rhenish  or 
Bohemian  painters  coming  into  the  country  with  Anne  of 
Bohemia,  who  married  Richard  II  in  1382;  a  theory 
which  is  confirmed  by  Sir  G.  Warner's  recent  discovery l  of 
Low-German  inscriptions  among  the  illuminations  of  one 
of  the  earliest  and  most  splendid  examples  of  this  new 
style,  the  great  Bible  of  Richard  II.  The  work  of  the 
new  school  is  characterized  especially  by  great  softness  in 
the  treatment  of  the  face,  the  use  of  the  pencil  or  pen 
being  discarded  in  favour  of  pure  brush-work  ;  by  a  rich, 
warm,  and  harmonious  colour-scheme  (sadly  wanting  in 
the  immediately  preceding  age) ;  by  the  skilful  use  of 
architectural  ornament ;  and  by  the  introduction  of  new 
forms  of  foliage,  in  particular  of  light  and  feathery  sprays 
putting  forth  curious  spoon-shaped  leaves  and  bell  or 
trumpet-shaped  flowers — frankly  conventional,  but  pro- 
ducing a  very  decorative  and  pleasing  effect.  Another 
characteristic  device  is  a  white  scroll  with  sinuated  edges, 
resembling  an  elongated  oak-leaf,  which  is  wrapped 
festoon-wise  round  the  upright  shafts  of  pillars  or  initials. 

The  great  Bible2  just  mentioned,  a  volume  of  enormous 
size,  is  supposed  in  default  of  evidence  to  have  been  made 
for  the  Royal  Chapel ;  it  is  evidently  of  the  time  of 
Richard  II,  or  Henry  IV  at  latest,  and  its  bulk  and 
magnificence  certainly  suggest  a  royal  patron.  Every 
book  has  a  large  miniature-initial  and  full  border,  and  the 
prologues  have  initials  of  equal  size,  either  filled  with 
scrolls  of  foliage  or  else  enclosing  pictures  of  S.  Jerome 
at  work  among  his  books.  The  main  characteristics  of 
the  decoration  are  those  of  the  school  in  general,  and  it 
only  remains  to  say  a  word  about  the  treatment  of  land- 

1  See  his  description  of  Roy.  i  E.  ix  in  the  new  Cat,  of  Royal  MSS. 

2  Roy.  i  E.  ix.     See  Thompson,  Eng.  Ilium.  MSS.,  pp.  58-61,  pi.  18,  19; 
Warner,  Ilium.  MSS.,  pi.  41-2,  and  Refrod.,  iii,  27. 

232 


unli!  :  preced 

is  g<  :bed   to 


£  in 


aan  inscriptions  an 

• 


i  II, 


, 

the  p 
n-work ;  ! 


in 
of 


foliage  or 
Tg  his 
a  are  thos 
mains  to 

' 

-2,  K! 


•       " 

s  of 

and  it 

:ent  of  land* 


of  Royal  MSB, 
,  pp.  58-61,  pi, 


~  p*.^:  ~J$<JK. 
rfc&  ^ 


PLATE    XXXIV 


CUTTINGS  FROM  A  MISSAL.  ENGLISH,  LATE  XIVxH  CENT. 
BRIT.  MUS.  Ann.  29704 


ENGLISH    ILLUMINATION    AFTER    1300 

This  remarkable  school  left  a  permanent  influence  on 
English  border-decoration,  giving  it  a  lightness  of  con- 
struction and  variety  of  detail  which  it  had  needed  sadly, 
and  of  which  it  retained  some  traces  long  after  all  other 
elements  of  good  illuminative  art  had  disappeared.  In 
other  respects  the  influence  was  shortlived.  The  first 
quarter  of  the  fifteenth  century  saw  the  produc- 
tion of  a  few  really  fine  manuscripts,  foremost  among 
which  stands  the  admirable  Horae  of  "  Elysabeth  the 
Quene"  in  Mr.  Yates  Thompson's  collection.1  But  on 
the  whole  the  art  of  illumination  was  on  the  down  grade. 
Henry  V's  successful  invasion  of  France  introduced  a 
taste  for  French  illumination,  then  at  its  prime ;  and 
most  of  the  fifteenth  century  Horae  and  other  decorated 
books  done  for  wealthy  English  patrons  were  the  work 
of  French  artists  or  of  mere  copyists  who  imitated  the 
foreign  methods  as  best  they  could.  Under  Edward  IV 
this  fashion  gave  way  to  a  similar  enthusiasm  for 
Flemish  painting,  and  native  art  decayed  and  perished 
for  lack  of  encouragement.  The  manuscripts  of  distinc- 
tively English  character  are  chiefly  interesting  as  illustra- 
tions of  costume,  like  the  famous  Lydgate's  Life  of 
S.  Edmund  (Harl.  2278)  presented  to  Henry  VI  in 
X433;  °r  as  evincing  a  genuine  depth  of  mystical 
devotion,  like  the  Cottonian  "  Desert  of  Religion " 
(Faust.  B.  vi,  pt.  ii) ;  rather  than  through  their  intrinsic 
merits  as  works  of  art. 

1  No.  59.    See  Cat.t  ii,  pp.  83-9,  Lecture,  pp.  26-7,  pi.  38-42  ;  Pal.  Soc.,  ii,  37. 


235 


CHAPTER  XIV 

FRENCH   ILLUMINATION   IN  THE   FOURTEENTH 

CENTURY 

THE  fourteenth  century,  in  England  so  full  of  prom- 
ise at  the  outset  and  so  disappointing  later  on, 
was  in  France  a  period  of  steady  advance,  if  not 
from  good  to  better — for  better  of  its  kind  than  the  Sainte 
Abbaye  could  scarcely  be — at  any  rate  from  one  good 
style  to  another.  In  the  history  of  Western  European 
miniature  the  year  1300  is  a  magical  epoch,  and  marks 
the  zenith  of  the  early  Gothic  manner.  But  whilst  the 
English  painters  after  a  few  glorious  decades  fell  away 
from  their  state  of  grace,  their  French  fellow-craftsmen 
went  on  from  strength  to  strength  :  preserving  the  excellent 
tradition  they  had  inherited,  yet  continually  vitalizing  and 
developing  it  by  the  rejection  of  worn-out  conventions  and 
the  introduction  of  new  ideas,  and  progressing  steadily 
towards  a  more  perfect  mastery  of  technique.  This 
applies,  of  course,  only  to  the  best  work  of  the  century. 
It  was  an  age  of  great  activity  in  the  production  of 
illuminated  manuscripts,  good,  bad,  or  indifferent ;  but 
we  are  not  concerned  here  with  the  last  two  classes. 

Researches  among  archives  have  revealed  to  us  the 
names  of  many  French  illuminators  (and  of  one  "  enlumi- 
neresse  "  at  least)  who  worked  in  the  fourteenth  century.1 
But  these  discoveries,  interesting  as  they  are,  are  mostly 
tantalizing  rather  than  informing ;  for  while  the  painter's 
name  and  address  are  often  recorded  with  the  utmost  pre- 
cision, his  actual  work  is  rarely  mentioned  at  all,  still 
more  rarely  in  such  a  way  as  to  lead  to  its  identification. 

1  See  H.  Martin,  Les  Miniaturistes  Franfais,  1906,  pp.  49-75,  and  Les 
Feintres  de  MSS.  et  la  Miniature  en  France  [1909],  pp.  35-72. 

236 


FRENCH    ILLUMINATION,    14x11    CENT. 

One  or  two  names,  however,  stand  out  with  such  promi- 
nence that  we  are  justified  in  regarding  their  owners 
as  the  leading  illuminators  of  their  respective  times, 
though  we  need  not  therefore  assume  that  they  are  to 
be  credited  personally,  or  even  through  their  immediate 
pupils,  with  any  and  every  piece  of  fine  work  that  has  sur- 
vived from  those  times.  Foremost  among  these  are  Jean 
Pucelle  in  the  second  quarter  of  the  century,  and  Andre 
Beauneveu  and  Jacquemart  de  Hesdin  at  its  close,  each 
of  whom  has  come  to  be  definitely  associated,  on  more  or 
less  secure  foundation  of  actual  evidence,  with  a  well- 
marked  distinctive  style. 

Of  the  miniaturists  settled  in  Paris  about  the  year 
1300  the  one  esteemed  most  highly  seems  to  have  been 
Honore,  to  whom  the  Breviary  of  Philippe  le  Bel  (Bibl. 
Nat.,  lat.  IO23),1  executed  in  1296,  may  probably  be  attri- 
buted. His  son-in-law,  Richard  de  Verdun,  had  been 
associated  with  him  in  1292,  and  seems  to  have  succeeded 
to  his  atelier  by  1318,  in  which  year  Richard  occurs  as 
a  painter  of  antiphoners  for  the  Sainte  Chapelle.  One 
is  strongly  tempted  to  see  more  than  a  mere  coincidence 
of  local  names  between  the  latter  artist  and  Mr.  Yates 
Thompson's  Verdun  Breviary,2  which,  like  its  companion 
the  Metz  Pontifical  in  the  same  collection,3  forms  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  extant  memorials  of  French  early 
fourteenth  century  illumination.  Of  the  two,  which  are 
plainly  by  the  same  hand,  the  Breviary  is  slightly  the 
earlier,  having  been  made  for  Marguerite  de  Bar,  Abbess 
of  S.  Maur,  at  Verdun,  1291-1304  ;  the  Pontifical  was 
made  for  her  brother  Renaud  or  Reinhold,  Bishop  of 
Metz  1302-16,  probably  towards  the  end  of  his  episco- 
pate, the  last  few  miniatures  in  the  book  being  more  or 

1  Delisle,  Douze  livres  royaux,  No.  vii. 

2  No.  31.     See  Cat.,  i,  pp.  142-78;  H.  Y.  Thompson,  Illustrations  of  100 
MSS.,  vol.  i,   1907,  pi.    10.     It  is  the  first  volume  only,  the  second  being  in  the 
Public  Library  at  Verdun  (No.  107). 

3  Formerly  in  the  possession  of  Sir  Thomas  Brooke,  who  bequeathed  it  to  his 
brother-collector.     It  was  edited  by  the  Rev.  E.  S.  Dewick,  and  its  illuminations 
reproduced  (four  in  gold  and  colours),  for  theRoxburghe  Club  in  1902. 

237 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

less  unfinished,  as  though  his  death  had  interrupted  its 
completion.  Both  books  are  copiously  and  beautifully 
decorated  with  historiated  initials  and  with  borders  of 
a  restrained  and  particularly  pleasing  type,  consisting 
of  slender  cusped  bars  ending  in  foliage-stems,  or  some- 
times in  little  human  heads  or  grotesque  forms,  and 
supporting  an  immense  variety  of  single  figures  or 
groups.  These  last  are  of  the  diverting  character  so  dear 
to  miniaturists  at  this  period ;  inferior  to  none  of  their 
contemporaries  in  humour  and  invention,  they  far  surpass 
most  of  them  in  the  exquisite  neatness  of  their  execution 
and  in  the  fine  taste  and  sense  of  proportion  with  which 
they  are  fitted  into  the  decorative  scheme.  The  Pontifical 
is  further  enriched  with  a  splendid  series  of  half-page 
miniatures,  which  illustrate  the  text  by  representing  with 
the  minutest  accuracy  many  of  the  rites  and  ceremonies 
in  which  a  bishop  is  required  to  take  the  leading  part. 
In  the  first  nineteen  pictures,  for  instance,  the  successive 
acts  in  the  dedication  of  a  church  are  shown  in  full 
detail :  watching  the  relics  in  a  tent  the  night  before ; 
the  bishop  knocking  at  the  church-door  and  demanding 
admittance,  tracing  the  Greek  and  Latin  alphabets  with 
his  crosier  on  the  floor  of  the  nave,1  etc.  The  delicately 
drawn  figures  stand  out  well  against  the  diapered  back- 
grounds ;  they  still  have  the  almost  ascetic  slenderness 
of  early  Gothic  art,  but  its  austere  rigidity  has  now  given 
place  to  a  curious  and  distinctive  sway  of  the  body,  not 
ungraceful,  though  somewhat  artificial  and  suggestive  of 
sentimentality.  The  faces,  placid,  smooth,  and  rounded, 
are  of  refined  types,  and  are  drawn  with  extraordinary 
delicacy. 

In  1295  the  Historia  Scholastica  of  Petrus  Comestor 
was  translated  into  French  by  Guiart  des  Moulins,  Canon 
of  Aire  in  Artois  ;  and  this  vernacular  paraphrase  of  the 
Scriptures,  known  as  the  "  Bible  historiale,"  was  in  France 
almost  as  popular  throughout  the  fourteenth  century  as 
the  Vulgate  had  been  in  the  thirteenth.  One  of  the 

1    PI.  XXXV. 

238 


Quoin  nutum&us  dt  loots  tftr 


iir  it  MR  eft  liir  altifl*  ntfi  to 


tin 
ition. 

th  his 


little   huma 

varie 
Th< 


to  mi 


at  this  period ; 
in  humour  an 


scheme.     The 

• 


the  H 

,  Artor 


the 

entury 
nth.     One  of 


PLATE  XXXV 


quam  mmtmDiis  rit  lotus  tftr 


ur  re  noil  dt  liir  alurt  uifi  lomu? 

'i    —    t  fc'    '      I — i 


ittus oife 
tRia  jKt.aqrtnitti.tt 


METZ   PONTIFICAL,   1302-16 

LIBRARY    OF    SIR    T.    BROOKE,    BART. 


FRENCH     ILLUMINATION,    14™    CENT. 

pen-tracery  in  blue  and  red.  Of  illumination  proper,  how- 
ever, it  has  but  little,  excellent  and  tasteful  though  that 
little  is  ;  and  it  owes  its  celebrity  largely  to  the  colophon, 
which  not  only  gives  the  date  of  completion,  but  also 
states  that  Jehan  Pucelle,  Anciau  de  Cens,  and  Jaquet 
Maci  "hont  enlumine'  ce  livre  ci."  The  Belleville  Brev- 
iary1 contains  some  memoranda  which  seem  to  indicate 
that  Pucelle  was  the  chef  d  'atelier  commissioned  to  exe- 
cute the  book,  and  that  he  employed  Mahiet,  Ancelet,  and 
J.  Chevrier  to  assist  him  as  copyists  or  illuminators. 
Mahiet  and  Ancelet  are  perhaps  variants  of  the  names 
of  his  former  collaborators  Maci  and  Anciau ;  and  it  may 
be  conjectured  that  their  work  consisted  mainly  of  pen- 
work  and  other  minor  decoration,  and  that  the  finest 
miniatures  were  painted  by  Pucelle  himself.  At  any  rate, 
it  is  convenient,  and  need  not  be  misleading,  to  give  the 
name  of  "school  of  Pucelle  "  to  the  mid-fourteenth  century 
style  which  is  so  admirably  exemplified  in  the  Belleville 
Breviary.  This  beautiful  book  has  seventy-six  small 
miniatures,  not  enclosed  in  the  initials  but  set  in  the 
column  immediately  above  them  (a  method  which  was 
now  beginning  to  supplant  the  historiated  initial),  of  the 
full  width  of  the  column  of  text  and  about  one-third  of  its 
height ;  painted  with  exquisite  minuteness  and  delicacy, 
the  figures  more  softly  rounded,  the  draperies  more  skil- 
fully modelled  by  means  of  gradations  of  colour,  than  in 
the  Metz  Pontifical  and  its  contemporaries.  The  border- 
frame  is  still  slightly  attached  to  the  initial  and  miniature, 
but  tends  to  become  an  entirely  independent  piece  of  orna- 
ment. It  consists  of  narrow  bars,  cusped  and  knotted  at 
the  angles,  surrounding  the  text  on  both  sides  and  at  the 
bottom ;  single  leaves  and  sprays  shoot  out  at  intervals, 
and  at  the  top  the  bars  branch  out  into  foliage- stems 
which  nearly  meet  and  complete  the  frame.  Human 
figures,  birds,  insects,  dragons,  and  grotesques  are  dis- 
persed among  the  foliage,  or  used  as  terminals ;  they  are 

1  Martin,  Miniaturistes,  fig.  10,  Peintres,  fig.  14,  15  ;  Delisle,  12  livres  roy., 
pp.  8 1-8,  pi.  15-17. 

16  241 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

less  freely  employed,  however,  than  in  the  earlier  style, 
and  the  French  border  tends  to  rely  more  and  more  on 
graceful  and  symmetrical  arrangements  of  conventional 
foliage,  rather  than  on  organic  forms,  for  its  effect.  In 
the  details  of  the  foliage  too  there  is  little  striving  after 
either  naturalism  or  variety,  both  so  characteristic  of  con- 
temporary English  work ;  the  three-lobed  conventional 
"ivy-leaf"  is  used  almost  exclusively. 

In  the  lower  margins  of  several  pages,  between  the 
text  and  the  framing  bar,  are  exquisite  little  scenes  from 
Bible-history  and  allegorical  representations  of  virtues 
and  of  the  mysteries  of  the  Church.  The  main  idea  in 
these,  a  contrast  between  the  Old  and  New  Dispensations, 
is  treated  more  systematically  in  the  Calendar-illustrations, 
which  form  an  exceedingly  interesting  feature  of  the 
manuscript.  Only  the  two  pages  for  November  and 
December  remain,  unfortunately  ;  but  the  artist's  meaning 
is  set  forth  in  an  elaborate  "  exposition  des  ymages  "  at 
the  beginning  of  the  book,  and  the  whole  of  this  very 
curious  series  of  subjects  is  preserved  in  a  small  group  of 
contemporary  and  later  manuscripts.  One  of  the  earliest 
of  these  is  a  beautiful  Book  of  Hours,  made  about 
1336.48  for  Jeanne  II,  Queen  of  Navarre,  daughter  of 
Louis  X  of  France ;  it  is  now  in  the  collection  of  Mr. 
Yates  Thompson,1  who  has  reproduced  its  miniatures, 
together  with  the  November  page  from  the  Belleville 
Breviary  and  two  later  manuscripts,  the  Duke  of  Berry's 
"Petites  Heures"  and  "Grandes  Heures."  The  same 
collector  also  possesses  another  member  of  the  group  in 
a  Book  of  Hours  made  for  Jeanne's  daughter-in-law, 
Yolande  de  Flandre,  about  1353.*  Like  the  Belleville 
Breviary,  these  two  Books  of  Hours  are  among  the 
choicest  surviving  specimens  of  Parisian  illumination  of 

1  Hours  of  Joan   If,   Queen  of  Navarre,   Roxburghe   Club,    1899.      Fully 
described  as  No.  75  in  the  Catalogue,  ii,  pp.  151-183,  with  the  text  of  the  Belle- 
ville "exposition"  on  pp.  365-8.       See  too  PaL  Soc.,  ii,  36;  Burl.   F.A.   Club, 
No.  130,  pi.  87. 

2  Hours  of  Yolande  of  Flanders,  ed.  S.  C.  Cockerell,  1905,  with  photogravure 
illustrations. 

242 


FRENCH    ILLUMINATION,    14™    CENT. 


the  time;  and  both  might  be  classed  in  the  Pucelle  school 
on  general  grounds  of  style,  even  without  their  remark- 
able agreement  in  the  Calendar-designs. 

The  originator  of  this  series,  who  may  well  have  been 
Jean  Pucelle  himself,  would  seem  to  have  aimed  at 
proving  that  a  high  degree  of  artistic  taste  and  skill  was 
not  incompatible  with  a  love  for  theological  symbolism  ; 
and  he  has  achieved  this  so  completely  that  his  verbal 
explanations  are,  to  say  the  least,  a  welcome  adjunct  to 
his  designs.  Each  month  is  identified  with  one  of  the 
twelve  apostles,  with  one  of  the  twelve  articles  of  the 
Creed,  and  with  S.  Paul's  conversion  or  one  of  his 
Epistles  ;  the  whole  year  also  symbolizes  the  gradual 
destruction  of  the  Old  Dispensation.  At  the  top  of  each 
page  is  a  battlemented  gate,  one  of  "  les  xij  portes  de 
Jerusalem  de  Paradis."  From  its  battlements  the  Virgin 
Mary,  "  par  quoi  nous  fu  la  porte  ouverte,"  waves  a 
banner  emblazoned  with  a  device  illustrating  one  of  the 
articles  of  the  Creed.  Below  her  is  S.  Paul,  in  January 
crouching  beneath  the  Hand  of  God,  "  comment  il  fu  ravi 
et  apeleY'  in  the  other  months  preaching  to  attentive 
groups  of  Romans,  Corinthians,  etc.  An  arch  springs 
from  the  right-hand  side  of  the  gateway,  bearing  the  sun 
in  a  position  which  marks  its  meridian  altitude  for  the 
successive  months  ;  below  is  the  zodiacal  sign,  with  a 
landscape  sketch  suggestive  of  the  season  (bare  trunks 
and  frost-bound  earth  in  January,  rain  in  February,  bud- 
ding shoots  in  March,  and  so  on).  At  the  foot  of  the 
page  is  a  building,  the  Synagogue  of  the  Old  Testament, 
from  which  a  prophet  removes  a  stone,  symbolizing  a 
prophecy,  and  gives  it  to  an  apostle  ;  in  the  latter'  s  hands 
it  turns  into  a  scroll,  inscribed  with  an  article  of  the 
Creed  corresponding  with  the  device  on  the  Virgin's 
banner.  Thus  the  Synagogue,  complete  in  January, 
crumbles  away  as  the  year  advances,  till  in  December  it 
falls  to  the  ground  in  ruins.  The  series  apparently  ended 
with  a  full-page  design,  in  which  the  apostles  are  shown 
building  the  Church  out  of  the  spoils  of  the  Synagogue  ; 

243 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 

but  this  is  no  longer  extant  in  the  Belleville  Breviary  or 
the  Yates  Thompson  MSS. 

The  Hours  of  Jeanne  de  Navarre  also  contain  sixty- 
eight  half-page  miniatures  and  thirty-seven  historiated 
initials,  besides  border  and  minor  initial  decoration  on 
almost  every  page.  The  miniatures  have  the  inevitable 
fourteenth  century  backgrounds  of  diaper,  checker-work, 
or  colour  brocaded  with  gold  scroll-work,  and  are  nearly 
all  enclosed  in  cusped  quatrefoils  within  square  frames  of 
gold  and  colours.  They  are  not  all  of  equal  fineness,  but 
the  best  are  unmistakably  the  work  of  a  great  artist.  The 
soft,  well-modelled  figures  are  of  a  charming  type,  the 
colouring  is  light,  bright,  and  delicate.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  features  of  the  book  is  the  series  of  miniatures 
accompanying  the  Hours  of  S.  Louis,  an  ancestor  of 
Jeanne  through  both  her  parents,  and  therefore  doubtless 
an  object  of  her  special  devotion.  Various  scenes  in  the 
saint's  life  are  depicted  :  his  instruction  as  a  child,  under 
the  watchful  eye  of  his  mother  Blanche  of  Castile  j1  his 
journey  to  Rheims  to  be  crowned  ;  and  so  on,  till  we  see 
him  taking  the  cross  on  what  was  thought  to  be  his 
death-bed.2  Of  the  historiated  initials,  none  is  more 
charming  than  the  first,  in  which  Queen  Jeanne  kneels 
with  a  Prayer-book  open  before  her,  below  a  large  minia- 
ture of  the  Trinity.  The  borders  are  mostly  of  the  regu- 
lation bar-and-ivy-leaf  type,  but  birds,  butterflies,  and 
other  figures  occur  in  a  few  of  the  margins  :  around  the 
Coronation  of  the  Virgin,  for  instance,  are  delightful 
half-length  figures  of  angels  playing  musical  instru- 
ments, with  Queen  Jeanne  kneeling  on  a  leaf;  equally 
fascinating  in  a  different  way  is  the  quaint  group  of 
peasants  dancing  to  a  bagpipe,  on  the  Angel  and 
Shepherds  page. 

The  miniatures  in  the  Hours  of  Yolande  of  Flanders 
have  lost  most  of  their  colour  through  a  Thames  flood, 

1  PI.  xxxvi. 

2  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  Hours  of  S.  Louis  are  also  contained  in  Baroness 
A.  de  Rothschild's  "  Heures  de  Pucelle." 

244 


ier  an 
The 
itury  backgro 

.1  in  cusped  quat 
They 

te 

elicate. 


ments,  with 


L7l  nt^A, 

^    flr« 


PLATE    XXXVI 


g)rtunc  labra  mm  ft|rne8< 

^maunanmnma 


HORAE  OF  JEANNE  DK  NAVARRE.  FRENCH,  CIRCA  \330-40 

LIBRARY    OF    H.    Y.    THOMPSON    ESQ. 


PLATE  XXXVII 


'•  X  X   X 


g 

fcapaitr  opens  fliiADua  t 
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S.  AUGUSTINE  DE  CIVITATE  DEI.  FRENCH,   LATE  XIV™  CENT. 

KRIT.    MUS.    ADD.    15245 


FRENCH    ILLUMINATION,    14x11    CENT. 

turist.  A  native  of  Hainault,  according  to  Froissart,  who 
has  given  him  a  kind  of  immortality  rare  indeed  among 
medieval  artists,  he  occurs  repeatedly  from  1361  onwards 
in  the  municipal  accounts  of  Valenciennes.  In  1374  he 
received  payment  "  pour  ouvrage  de  peinture  "  (doubtless 
a  wall-painting)  which  he  made  in  the  chamber  of 
the  Halle  des  Jure"s ;  but  the  other  entries  refer  mainly 
to  his  work  as  a  sculptor.  In  this  capacity  he  was 
already  famous  in  1364,  when  Charles  V  commissioned 
him  to  carve  royal  tombs  for  the  basilica  of  S.  Denis ; 
and  for  several  years  afterwards  he  was  busily  engaged 
in  carving  statues  and  inspecting  buildings  at  Ghent, 
Ypres,  Cambrai,  and  elsewhere,  for  the  Count  of  Flanders 
and  others.  We  find  him  at  Bourges  in  1386,  as  salaried 
"ymagier"  to  the  Duke  of  Berry;  and  Froissart  men- 
tions him,  in  terms  of  glowing  eulogy,  under  the  year 
1390,  as  the  Duke's  director  of  sculptures  and  paintings 
("  maistre  de  ses  oeuvres  de  taille  et  de  peintures").  The 
exact  date  of  his  death  is  not  known,  but  he  is  alluded  to 
as  "feu  maistre  Andre"  Beaunepveu"  in  an  inventory1 
attested  16  October,  1403,  but  apparently  drawn  up  in 
June,  1402. 

Of  his  miniatures,  only  twenty-four  pages,2  prefixed  to 
a  Latin-French  Psalter  made  for  the  Duke  of  Berry 
(Bibl.  Nat.,  fr.  13091),  have  come  down  to  us  with  docu- 
mentary credentials.  They  represent  the  twelve  apostles, 
each  balanced  by  a  prophet  on  the  opposite  page ;  the 
figures  in  grisaille,  seated  on  faintly  coloured  thrones  rich 
with  architectural  ornament ;  the  backgrounds  sometimes 
minutely  diapered  or  tessellated,  sometimes  coloured 
reddish  brown  or  very  dark  blue  and  covered  with  a 
pattern  of  oak-leaves  or  other  foliage  outlined  in  black. 
The  figures,  large  in  manner,  with  draperies  softly  and 
beautifully  modelled,  have  all  the  solidity  and  statuesque- 

1  J.  Guiffrey,  Inventaires  de  Jean  due  de  Berry,  ii,  1896,  p.  119. 

2  Many  of  these  have  been  reproduced,  e.g.  in  Fond.  E.  Plot,  Mon.  et  M£m., 
i,  p.   187,  iii,  pi.  6;  Le  Manuscrit,  i,  1894,  p.  51;  Martin,  Peintres^  fig.  17,  18; 
Michel,  Hift.  de  FArt,  iii,  pt.  i,  p.  155. 

249 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 

ness  that  might  be  expected  of  a  great  sculptor ;  none  of 
the  tight  neatness  and  flat  effect  that  stamp  the  work  of 
the  trained  miniaturist.  The  faces  are  full  of  character 
and  individuality,  and  are  obviously  portraits  of  living 
models.  The  same  qualities,  displayed  more  tellingly  on 
a  larger  scale,  appear  in  two  superb  full-page  miniatures 1 
at  the  beginning  of  a  Book  of  Hours  in  the  Royal  Library 
at  Brussels  (Nos.  1 1060-1).  These  two,  on  opposite  pages, 
form  a  single  composition,  representing  the  Duke  of 
Berry  on  his  knees,  between  SS.  Andrew  and  John  the 
Baptist,  before  the  Virgin  and  Child.  The  pose  of  the 
Virgin,  enthroned  like  the  prophets  and  apostles  of 
the  Psalter  described  above  (fr.  13091) ;  the  handling  of 
the  draperies ;  the  charming,  unobtrusive  backgrounds, 
of  foliage  behind  the  Duke  and  his  patrons,  of  adoring 
angels  behind  the  Virgin  and  Child ;  the  fine  expressive 
heads  of  the  two  saints,  above  all  the  masterly  portrait  of 
the  Duke — all  these  seem  to  indicate  Beauneveu's  hand, 
though  an  eminent  critic2  has  urged  the  claims  of  Jacque- 
mart  de  Hesdin.  Beauneveu  has  been  credited  on  grounds 
of  style  with  another  work,  which,  though  not  strictly 
relevant  to  the  history  of  illumination,  is  too  interesting 
to  be  ignored  :  a  series  of  exquisite  silverpoint  studies  of 
the  Madonna,  a  bal  masqud,  and  other  subjects,  covering 
the  boxwood  panels  of  a  little  sketchbook  in  Mr.  Pierpont 
Morgan's  collection.3 

Very  little  is  known  of  Jacquemart  de  Hesdin's  life.4 
Perhaps  a  pupil  of  Charles  V's  court  painter  Jean  de 
Bruges,  he  was  in  the  Duke  of  Berry's  service  at  Bourges 
in  1384  and  1399;  he  seems  to  have  been  living  in  1413, 
but  probably  died  soon  after.  The  inventories  give  him 
sole  credit  for  the  decoration  of  the  Brussels  Hours,  and 
assign  him  a  share  (along  with  "  autres  ouvriers  de  Mon- 

1  Often  reproduced,  eg.  in  Dehaisnes,  pi.  8,  9 ;  Michel,  iii,  i,  pp.  156-7.   For 
a  description  of  the  manuscript,  with  fine  reproductions  of  all  its  miniatures,  see 
Pol  de  Mont,  Musle  des  Enluminures,  fasc.  i  [1905]. 

2  R.  de  Lasteyrie,  in  Fond.  E.  Piot,  iii,  pp.  71-119. 

8  Published  by  R.  E.  Fry  in  the  Burlington  Magazine,  x,  1906,  pp.  31-8. 
4  See  Lasteyrie,  as  above;  Champeaux  and  Gauchery,  pp.  118-21. 

250 


FRENCH    ILLUMINATION,    HTH    CENT. 


seigneur,"  who  were  doubtless  under  his  direction)  in  that 
of  the  "Grandes  Heures,"  now  Bibl.  Nat.,  lat.  919.  But 
the  former  attribution,  authoritative  though  it  seems,  is 
certainly  inexact.  The  twenty  large  miniatures  in  the 
Brussels  MS.  are  all  framed  in  similar  borders,  of  a  graceful 
and  unusual  type  ;  but  the  pictures  themselves  are  plainly 
by  several  different  hands.  The  first  two,  in  particular, 
stand  out  strikingly  from  the  rest,  and  are  emphatically, 
as  we  have  seen,  in  the  Beauneveu  manner  ;  the  third 
combines  their  subjects  into  a  single  picture,  of  greatly 
inferior  execution  and  apparently  the  work  of  a  copyist  ; 
while  the  remainder,  varying  in  merit  but  sufficiently  alike 
to  have  been  all  produced  in  the  same  atelier,  are  typical 
in  style,  with  their  full  colouring  and  elaborate  landscapes, 
of  the  first  quarter  of  the  fifteenth  century.  In  fact,  there 
is  much  to  be  said  for  M.  Pol  de  Mont's  theory  that 
Beauneveu  painted  the  first  two  pages  and  then  left  the 
book,  which  at  a  later  date  was  completed  by  Jacquemart 
de  Hesdin  and  his  assistants. 

Besides  the  "Grandes  Heures,"  finished  in  1409, 
Jacquemart  is  believed  to  have  painted  the  best  miniatures 
in  the  "Petites  Heures"  (Bibl.  Nat.,  lat.  18014),  finished  in 
or  before  1402,  and  also  (except  Beauneveu's  prophets  and 
apostles)  in  the  Latin-French  Psalter,  fr.  13091.  These 
show  him  to  have  been  a  painter  of  consummate  skill. 
His  work  is  more  conventionally  perfect  than  Beauneveu's, 
neater  and  crisper  ;  but  it  lacks  the  sculptor's  large  con- 
ception of  form.  Distinct  signs  of  primitive  Italian  in- 
fluence are  visible  in  his  miniatures,  as  in  those  of  most 
French  painters  of  his  time  ;  notably  in  the  landscape, 
now  claiming  more  and  more  of  the  space  hitherto  given 
up  to  conventional  patterns.  Hardly  less  conventional 
itself,  this  landscape  is  at  first  of  the  type  described  in 
chapter  iii  as  characteristic  of  Byzantine,  and  afterwards 
of  early  Italian  art.  We  see  the  same  flat-topped  hillocks 
with  smooth,  steep,  terraced  slopes  ;  but  the  aridity  of  the 
model  is  generally  softened  by  the  herbage,  already 
prominent  in  French  foregrounds,  being  continued  up  the 

251 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 

hillsides,  and  the  tops  are  often  crowned  by  a  clump  of 
trees  or  a  castle.  On  the  whole,  Jacquemart  seems  to 
have  been  an  eclectic  copyist  of  great  expertness,  rather 
than  an  original  artist.  As  we  have  seen  already,  in 
choosing  subjects  to  decorate  the  Calendars  of  his  Books 
of  Hours  he  had  recourse  to  Jean  Pucelle ;  and  he  repro- 
duced almost  every  detail  of  the  earlier  artist's  composi- 
tions with  minute,  almost  slavish  exactness.  Only  in  the 
border-ornament  is  the  divergence  striking,  and  that  not 
in  Jacquemart's  favour.  His  sense  of  proportion  fails 
him  here,  perfect  as  his  execution  is  ;  and  he  tends  to 
overload  his  pages  with  intricate  but  monotonous  con- 
volutions of  ivy-leaved  sprays. 

Before  quitting  the  Duke  of  Berry's  library  for  the 
present,  we  may  notice  two  of  his  books  now  in  the 
British  Museum,  not  to  be  compared  for  beauty  with 
those  just  mentioned,  but  useful  as  good  examples  of  the 
average  work  of  the  third  and  last  quarters  of  the 
fourteenth  century.  One  is  Lansd.  1175,  the  first  volume 
of  a  French  Bible,  translated  by  Raoul  de  Presles  for 
Charles  V  (1364-80).  It  is  the  only  extant  MS.  contain- 
ing the  translator's  dedicatory  preface,  and  is  probably 
the  actual  copy  given  to  the  king,  many  of  whose  books 
found  their  way  into  his  brother's  library.  At  all  events, 
his  portrait  is  unmistakable  in  the  miniature  which  heads 
the  preface  and  shows  Raoul  presenting  his  book  to 
Charles.  It  is  well  written,  by  a  scribe  who  signs  himself 
Henri  du  Trevou,  and  adorned  with  neat  little  miniatures 
at  the  beginnings  of  the  several  books.  The  figures, 
whose  chief  fault  is  that  their  heads  are  too  small,  are  in 
grisaille.  The  backgrounds  are  as  usual  checkered, 
tessellated,  or  damasked ;  landscapes  of  the  type  just 
described,  with  tufted  hillocks,  often  occur.  The  other 
manuscript,  commonly  known  as  the  Berry  Bible,  contains 
the  Bible  Historiale  in  two  large  volumes  (Harl.  438I-2),1 
written  about  the  end  of  the  century.  The  first  page  of 
Genesis  has  an  elaborate  painting  of  the  Trinity,  with  the 

1  Warner,  Ilium,  AfSS.,  pi.  44,  Reprod.,  ii,  24. 
252 


FRENCH    ILLUMINATION,    14111    CENT. 

Virgin,  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  and  the  four  Doctors  of  the 
Church,  as  well  as  a  company  of  pagan  philosophers 
(Plato,  Aristotle,  Seneca,  etc.)  and  personifications  of 
Dialectic  and  Arithmetic.  The  opening  page  of  vol.  ii  is 
coarser  in  execution  and  less  magnificent  in  design  and 
colouring ;  it  has  only  a  large  square  enclosing  four 
scenes  from  the  life  of  Solomon,  to  illustrate  the  book  of 
Proverbs.  Smaller  miniatures  abound  at  the  beginnings 
of  books  and  chapters  throughout  both  volumes,  together 
with  ivy-leaf  borders  and  initials  rich  with  burnished 
gold.  The  miniatures  vary  considerably :  one  or  two  are 
extremely  good,  especially  the  Nativity,  at  the  beginning 
of  S.  Matthew,  a  really  exquisite  picture;  but  the  majority 
are  rather  hard  and  flat  in  technique.  In  fact,  the  book 
is  chiefly  remarkable  for  the  brilliancy  of  its  colouring. 
This  is  particularly  splendid  in  the  miniatures  whose 
grounds  are  of  burnished  gold  or  minute  diaper,  less 
effective  where  red,  patterned  with  gold,  is  used  instead. 

The  Songe  du  Vergier,1  written  by  Philippe  de  Maiz- 
ieres  for  Charles  V  in  1378,  is  interesting  for  its  frontis- 
piece, which  represents  the  author  asleep  in  an  orchard, 
while  a  clerk  and  a  knight,  the  disputants  in  his  dream, 
stand  arguing,  and  the  king  sits  in  state  between  two 
charming  queens,  typifying  Spiritual  and  Temporal  Power, 
the  subjects  of  the  dispute.  There  is  a  striking  contrast 
between  the  rudimentary  landscape  -  painting  and  the 
mature,  naturalistic  treatment  of  the  figures.  Another 
curious  frontispiece  is  that  prefixed  to  the  same  writer's 
Epistle2  to  Richard  II,  composed  in  1395-6  to  promote 
peace  and  friendship  between  that  monarch  and  the  French 
King,  Charles  VI.  In  the  upper  half  are  the  crowns  of 
France  and  England  on  blue  and  red  fields,  with  the 
Crown  of  Thorns  between  them  on  a  black  ground,  all 
three  under  Gothic  canopies  and  inscribed  "  Charles  roy 
de  France,  Jesus  roy  de  paix,  Richart  roy  d'Angleterre." 
The  space  below  is  filled  with  the  arms  of  the  two  coun- 

1  Brit.  Mus.,  Roy.  19  C.  iv.     See  Pal.  Sot:.,  ii,  169. 

2  Roy.  20  B.  vi.     See  Warner,  Reprod.,  i,  25. 

253 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 

tries,  the  sacred  monogram  in  gold  written  across  the  two 
divisions.  On  the  opposite  page  is  a  large  miniature  of 
the  author  presenting  his  work  to  King  Richard,  together 
with  initial  and  border  ornament  of  the  usual  type.  Like 
the  miniatures  of  the  Berry  Bible,  and  of  many  con- 
temporary manuscripts,  these  two  pages  are  a  blaze  of 
brilliant  colours. 


254 


I 


U  £ 

</i  »" 

2  s 

a  - 
j 

b  H 


ITALIAN    ILLUMINATION,    HTH    CENT. 

being  treated  with  great  care.  The  curious  greyish  pink 
flesh-tints,  with  a  greenish  tinge  in  the  shadows,  are 
characteristic  of  early  Italian  painting  in  general,  and  are 
found  in  most  of  the  fourteenth  century  miniatures. 
Gold  is  used  plentifully,  and  the  colouring  is  strong,  but 
with  little  attempt  at  gradation  or  modelling,  so  that  the 
figures  are  flat  and  unshapely  masses  of  colour  rather 
than  draped  human  beings. 

The  illustrated  frontispiece  lent  itself  readily  to  treat- 
ment in  the  large  manner  of  the  panel-painter.  Such 
frontispieces  were  not  confined  to  literary  works,  which 
in  fact  rarely  contained  them  ;  but  were  prefixed  to  books 
of  a  kind  from  which  modern  ideas  of  congruity  would 
banish  all  ornament :  registers  of  wills,  "  matricole " 
(i.e.  statutes  and  lists  of  members)  of  trade-guilds, 
municipal  account-books,  etc.  The  great  majority  of 
these  are  of  no  particular  merit  as  works  of  art,  though 
useful  historically  as  fixed  points,1  date  and  locality  being 
seldom  stated  with  equal  precision  in  other  manuscripts. 
But  there  are  one  or  two  gems  among  them,  especially 
the  lovely  Assumption  of  the  Virgin 2  painted  by  Niccold 
di  Ser  Sozzo  on  the  first  page  of  a  Caleffo,  or  register 
of  public  documents,  which  was  compiled  at  Siena  in 
1 334-6,  and  is  preserved  in  the  Archivio  di  Stato  of  that 
city,  where  it  is  known  as  the  Caleffo  dell'  Assunta.  No 
other  works  by  this  great  artist  are  known  to  exist ;  but 
he  has  fortunately  signed  this  masterpiece  ("  Nicholaus 
ser  sozzo  de  senis  me  pinxit "),  which  alone  is  enough  to 
stamp  him  as  one  of  the  great  Sienese  painters  of  his 
time — and  that  the  time  of  Simone  Martini  and  the 
Lorenzetti.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  in  the  next 
century  Matteo  di  Giovanni,  whose  great  altar-piece  of 

1  A  few  examples  may  be  named,  more  or  less  elaborately  decorated  at  the 
beginning :— Brit.   Mus.,  Add.    16532  (Bologna,   1334),   21965   (Perugia,   1368), 
22497  (Perugia,  before  1403);  Vitelli  e  Paoli,  Facsimili  paleografici,  Lat.,  pi.  20 
(Florence,  1340);  F.  Carta,  Atlante  pal.-art.,  1899,  pi.  58  (Venice,  1392),  59-60 
(Bologna,  1394).     Others  will  be  mentioned  farther  on,  in  connection  with  Niccolb 
da  Bologna. 

2  PI.  xxxix. 

'7  257 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

the  same  subject  is  now  in  the  National  Gallery,  was 
inspired  by  this  beautiful  miniature,  which  he  must  have 
had  many  opportunities  of  seeing.  The  frontispiece  to 
Petrarch's  Virgil,  now  in  the  Ambrosian  Library,  was 
painted  by  Simone  Martini  himself;  and  he  has  also 
been  credited  by  some  critics  with  the  charming  illumina- 
tions of  the  "  Codice  di  S.  Giorgio "  in  the  Archives  of 
S.  Peter's  at  Rome,  but  this  attribution  is  doubtful.1 

The  next  best  thing  to  a  full  page,  for  a  painter  who 
demands  amplitude,  is  a  large  share  in  a  page  of  excep- 
tional size  ;  and  this  was  provided  in  generous  measure 
for  the  illuminators  charged  with  the  decoration  of  the 
gigantic  choir-books  in  which  Italian  chapter-libraries 
are  so  rich,  and  which  form  so  important  a  feature  in  the 
history  of  Italian  painting.  The  historiated  initial,  to 
the  Northern  illuminator  at  first  a  field  for  the  congenial 
exercise  of  minute  compression,  afterwards  so  irksome 
through  its  restrictions  that  it  was  virtually  abandoned  in 
favour  of  the  purely  ornamental  initial  surmounted  by 
a  miniature  in  a  separate  frame,  followed  a  different 
course  of  development  in  the  hands  of  his  Italian  confrere. 
The  letter  itself,  of  elaborate  design,  rich  in  gold  and 
bright  colours  and  lavishly  adorned  with  pendent  decora- 
tion, claimed  more  and  more  of  the  page  of  a  huge 
Gradual  or  Antiphoner,  and  framed  a  picture  which 
in  largeness  of  manner  often  rivalled  the  compositions 
of  contemporary  panel-painters.  These  splendid  Libri 
Corali  reached  their  full  development  before  the  end  of 
the  fourteenth  century,  as  regards  the  main  outlines  of  their 
decoration,  though  the  finest  examples  now  extant  were 
mostly  produced  about  a  hundred  years  later.  To  be 
studied  properly  they  must  be  visited  in  their  native 
land.2  Such  enormous  volumes  do  not  lend  themselves 
readily  to  transport  overseas  ;  and  the  single  leaves  or 

1  See  Venturi,  Storia  delt  Arte  italiana,  v,  pp.  621,  1018-30,  fig.  786-91. 

2  A  few  examples  are  given  by  Venturi,  iii,  fig.  445~57>  v>  ng-  793-8o6»  from 
Modena,  Siena,  and  elsewhere.     See  too  Atl.  pal-art.,  pi.  51  (Asti  Antiphoner, 
dated  1332). 

258 


the  same  subjec 

ired  by  this  beauti 
had  many  opportu; 
Petrarch'^ 
painted  by  Simone  M 

tions  of  the  *'  Cod  ice  *di  **>    ( 

rie,  bui 

The  next  best  thing  to  a  < 
ands  amplitude,  is  a  1: 
al  size  ;  and  thi 
illuminator 

ch; 


a  teal 


m?. 


m  1  argent: 
of  conteinpor 
Corali  reached  t 
the  fourteenth 
decoration,  tb 
mostly  produ 
studied  properly  the) 
land.3    Such  enormoi 
readily  to  transport  < 

"  A  few  examples  are  givei 
Modena,  Siena,  and  elsewhere 
dated  1332). 


PLATK  XXXIX 


NICCOLO  DI    SER  SOZZO,    1334-6 

SIENA,    ARCHIVIO    Dl    STATO.    CALEFFO    DELL*   AS 


ITALIAN    ILLUMINATION,    14™    CENT. 


and  historiated  initials  to  the  other  books.  But  the 
treatment  is  very  different  from  that  of  the  Northern 
miniaturists  :  the  stately  pose,  the  fine  modelling  of 
limbs  and  draperies,  the  soft,  subdued,  almost  sombre 
colouring,  the  swarthy  faces,  with  white  high-lights  and 
greenish  shadows,  all  show  close  adherence  to  the  best 
traditions  of  Italo-Byzantine  art.  The  Genesis  and 
Matthew  pages  have  three  additional  scenes  in  the  lower 
margin  :  the  expulsion  from  Paradise,  the  sacrifices  of 
Cain  and  Abel,  and  the  murder  of  Abel  on  the  former, 
the  Annunciation,  Nativity,  and  Presentation  on  the 
latter.  The  borders  are  of  the  light  and  pleasing  type 
described  at  the  end  of  chapter  ix  as  characteristic  of 
Italian  fourteenth  century  illumination  ;  less  subdued  in 
tint  than  the  miniatures,  they  brighten  up  the  pages  most 
effectively.  Human  figures  are  sometimes  employed  as 
terminals  or  supports  to  the  stems  which  form  the  frame- 
work ;  among  these  is  a  graceful  youth,  nude  and 
exquisitely  modelled,  on  the  first  page.  At  the  foot  of 
this  page  are  also  two  Dominican  friars,  whose  presence 
recalls  the  fact  that  Bologna  was  a  great  stronghold 
of  that  order. 

The  same  well-adjusted  balance  between  text  and 
decoration  is  found  in  the  British  Museum  Durandus 
(Add.  31032)  j1  but  this  book  has  nothing  like  the  large 
simplicity  and  majestic  beauty  of  the  great  Bible.  Borders 
and  initials  are  very  highly  finished,  but  the  multiplicity 
of  minute  details  of  ornament  gives  them  a  somewhat 
meaningless  and  finicking  appearance.  Detached  gilt 
discs,  a  favourite  device  with  Italian  illuminators  in  the 
fourteenth  and  early  fifteenth  centuries,  are  used  abun- 
dantly in  the  borders  ;  but  instead  of  enriching  the  decor- 
ative scheme  they  serve  rather  to  enhance  its  triviality. 
The  colour-effect  would  be  somewhat  pallid  but  for  the 
brilliancy  of  the  stippled  gold  grounds. 

One  might  naturally  expect  to  be  confronted  at  every 
turn  with  evidences  of  the  influence  of  Giotto  ;  but  as 

1  PaL  Soc.,  i,  221  ;  Warner,  Ilium.  MSS.,  pi.  39,  Reprod.^  ii,  41. 

261 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

a  matter  of  fact  there  are  few  manuscripts  in  which  any- 
thing of  the  sort  appears.  One  of  these  few  is  Add. 
27428*  in  the  British  Museum,  a  volume  containing 
Simone  da  Cascia's  Lordene  della  Vita  Cristiana  (com- 
posed in  1333),  followed  by  lives  of  saints  in  Italian. 
These  last  are  illustrated  with  miniatures  on  gold 
grounds,  in  plain  rectangular  frames,  set  in  the  column  of 
text  and  rilling  its  whole  width.  The  compositions  are 
crowded,  and  appear  still  more  so  from  the  fact  that  the 
figures  are  of  almost  the  full  height  of  the  picture,  as 
though  the  artist  had  designed  them  without  regard  to 
the  amount  of  space  at  his  disposal.  It  would  be  a  gross 
injustice  to  the  great  master  to  call  these  quaint,  bril- 
liantly coloured  little  paintings  Giottesque  ;  but  there  is 
a  far-away  suggestion  of  his  manner  in  the  clear-cut 
profiles,  the  well-defined  types,  the  careful  treatment  of 
the  hair. 

A  few  words  must  be  said  about  the  great  tomes  of 
civil  and  canon  law,  the  output  of  which  must  have  been 
prodigious,  to  judge  from  the  numbers  still  preserved. 
They  were  mostly  written,  no  doubt,  in  the  universities 
of  Bologna  and  Padua,  and  were  probably  illuminated 
at  the  same  time,  as  a  rule,  though  some  were  sent  out 
plain,  to  be  decorated  in  their  place  of  destination.2  The 
illuminations  in  the  vast  majority  of  cases  are  singularly 
unattractive,  being  coarsely  executed,  with  repulsive 
underhung  faces.  This  ugly  type  of  face  is  not  peculiar 
to  law-books,  but  recurs  constantly  in  the  inferior  work 
of  the  North  Italian  schools  in  the  first  half  of  the 
century,  e.g.  in  a  copy  of  the  Divina  Commedia  now  in 
the  British  Museum  (Eg.  943).  After  the  middle  of  the 
century  some  improvement  is  visible,  as  in  Add.  23923,  a 
copy  of  the  Decretals  of  Boniface  VIII,  written  between 
1370  and  1381,  and  illuminated  in  a  style  which  Sig. 
Venturi  considers  distinctive  of  the  school  of  Niccolb  da 

1  Pal.  Soc.t  i,  247 ;  Warner,  Reprod.^  i,  42. 

2  Roy.  10  E.  iv,  for  instance,  was  illuminated  in  England.    See  above,  p.  230. 

262 


ITALIAN    ILLUMINATION,    HTH    CENT. 

Bologna.  This  prolific  miniaturist,1  who  worked  from 
1349  to  1399,  does  not  seem  himself  to  have  painted  many 
law-books ;  his  illuminations  are  to  be  found  chiefly  in 
choir-books,  missals,  and  "  matricole,"  and  seem  to  be 
remarkable  for  his  unusual  habit  of  signing  them  rather 
than  for  their  own  superlative  excellence.  Of  the  many 
fourteenth  century  Italian  law-books  in  the  British 
Museum,  the  only  one  with  real  artistic  significance  is  a 
fine  two-volume  copy  of  the  Decretum  (Add.  15274-5), z 
written  in  the  latter  part  of  the  century.  A  large  picture 
of  the  Pope  in  Council  fills  half  the  first  page,  which  has 
also  an  initial  enclosing  a  miniature  of  a  scribe  at  work, 
and  an  elaborate  and  handsome  border  replete  with  a 
great  variety  of  ornament.  Each  of  the  thirty-six 
chapters  is  preceded  by  a  miniature  illustrating  its 
subject-matter,  and  begins  with  a  large  initial  enclosing 
a  single  figure,  usually  legal  or  clerical.  All  these  are 
well  executed  and  very  richly  coloured,  vermilion  and 
deep  blue  prevailing. 

The  curious  manuscript  attributed  to  that  shadowy 
person,  Cybo  the  Monk  of  Hyeres  (Brit.  Mus.,  Add.  27695, 
2884 1 ),3  has  no  very  obvious  relation  to  the  main  course 
of  Italian  illumination,  but  is  too  interesting  to  be  passed 
over  in  silence.  The  Monk  of  Hyeres  was  clearly  an 
individualist,  who  owed  as  little  to  his  predecessors  as  he 
bequeathed  to  his  successors.  His  large  miniatures, 
illustrating  the  text,  a  treatise  on  the  Vices,  are  bold  and 
expressive  in  design  ;  but  with  their  vivid  colouring  and 
aggressive  checkered  background  they  cannot  be  called 
beautiful.  The  conventions  of  figure-composition  did  not 
suit  his  genius,  which  was  emphatically  that  of  a  natural- 
ist ;  and  he  found  a  congenial  exercise  for  his  powers  in 
covering  the  margins  and  line-endings  of  the  text-pages 
with  plants,  insects,  birds,  and  animals  of  various  kinds, 

1  See  Venturi,  v,   pp.  942,  1014-6  ;  Archivio  Storico  del?  Arte,   1894,  pp. 
1-20  j  LArte,  1907,  pp.  105-15. 

2  Warner,  Ilium.  MSS.,  pi.  40,  Reprod.,  ii,  42. 

3  Pal.  Soc.,  i,  149,  150. 

263 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 

painted  with  the  most  marvellous  fidelity  to  nature.  All 
are  wonderful,  but  his  special  predilection  was  evidently 
for  insect  life :  his  spiders,  bees,  grasshoppers,  and  stag- 
beetles  seem  to  be  positively  starting  out  of  the  page.  It 
is  hard  to  find  a  parallel  nearer  to  his  date  (end  of  the 
fourteenth  century)  than  the  Flemish  miniaturists  a 
hundred  years  later;  and  even  their  work  seems  tame  and 
flat  in  comparison. 


264 


CHAPTER  XVI 

FRENCH   ILLUMINATION   AFTER   1400 

BY  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  produc- 
tion of  illuminated  manuscripts  had  become  in 
France  almost  a  staple  industry.  Books  of  Hours, 
in  particular,  were  produced  in  vast  numbers,  not  only  to 
the  order  of  wealthy  patrons,  but  also  for  booksellers  to 
add  to  their  stock  and  sell  to  any  chance  customer. 
Specimens  of  these  "shop  copies'7  may  be  seen  in  nearly 
every  library  in  Europe,  and  form  the  nucleus  of  most 
private  collections ;  being  comparatively  easy  to  acquire 
and  at  the  same  time  pleasing  to  behold,  despite  the 
perfunctory  nature  of  much  of  the  miniature-painting, 
through  the  fidelity  with  which  an  excellent  tradition  in 
border-decoration  was  followed.  This  was  founded  on 
the  "ivy-leaf"  pattern  which  came  into  vogue  early  in 
the  fourteenth  century :  modified  by  the  gilding  of  the 
leaves  and  their  diminution  in  size,  by  the  increased 
intricacy  of  the  stem-convolutions,  and  by  the  introduction 
of  a  few  additional  forms  of  foliate,  floral,  and  other 
ornament,  the  type  persisted  with  little  variation  until 
the  second  half  of  the  fifteenth  century,  when  it  gave  way 
to  a  much  less  tasteful  style  of  border,  with  backgrounds 
partly  or  wholly  gilt  instead  of  the  plain  vellum.  Another 
change  for  the  worse  began  to  come  in  about  the  same 
time,  viz.  the  substitution  of  architectural  frames  of  heavy 
Renaissance  style,  with  much  gilding,  for  the  simple 
bands  which  had  hitherto  enclosed  the  large  miniatures. 

So  much  for  the  average  work,  which  exists  in  such 
quantity  as  to  demand  some  notice,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  render  any  attempt  at  detailed  treatment  impossible  in 
a  general  sketch  like  the  present.  Of  work  of  a  higher 

265 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

class  there  is  enough  to  fill  many  chapters,  and  only  the 
salient  points  can  be  indicated  here.  The  death  of  the 
Duke  of  Berry  in  1416  marks  the  close  of  the  first  and 
greatest  epoch,  culminating  (as  indeed  the  whole  art  of 
illumination  may  be  said  to  do)  in  the  wonderful  "  Tres 
Riches  Heures,"  which  Pol  de  Limbourg  and  his  brothers 
were  then  engaged  in  painting  for  him.  These  artists  did 
not  long  survive  their  patron ;  and  the  period  which 
followed,  though  one  of  great  luxuriance  and  brilliancy, 
producing  a  remarkable  group  of  books  among  which  the 
Bedford  Hours  holds  a  leading  place,  showed  already  the 
beginning  of  a  decadence  in  point  of  taste.  About  the 
middle  of  the  century  flourished  the  great  painter  Jean 
Fouquet,  and  his  influence  survived  among  his  disciples, 
notably  the  "  egregius  pictor  Franciscus  "  who  has  been 
conjecturally  identified  with  his  son  Francois,  and  later  in 
the  works  of  Jean  Bourdichon,  painter  of  the  Hours  of 
Anne  of  Brittany,  and  of  his  school,  continuing  until 
well  on  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

French  illumination  had  reached  a  very  high  level  by 
the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century,  as  we  saw  in  chapter  xiv; 
and  the  opening  years  of  the  next  century  have  bequeathed 
to  us  a  great  many  manuscripts  of  such  excellence  that 
one  only  hesitates  to  call  them  first-rate  because  they  are 
eclipsed  by  the  superlative  beauty  of  the  few  real  master- 
pieces. An  admirable  sample  of  this  class  is  the  Bouci- 
caut  Hours,1  in  Madame  Jacquemart-Andr^'s  collection. 
This  book,  executed  for  the  Marechal  de  Boucicaut 
between  1396  and  1421,  shows  its  transitional  nature  in 
the  backgrounds,  which  in  a  few  of  the  miniatures  are 
filled  with  deep  blue  sky  spangled  with  stars,  a  welcome 
relief  from  the  somewhat  wearisome  checkered  and  bro- 
caded patterns.  The  latter,  appropriate  enough  as  a 
setting  for  the  comparatively  flat,  conventional  treatment 

1  Les  Heures  du  marlchal  de  Boucicaut ',  Soc.  des  Bibliophiles  fr.,  1889.  See 
too  Durrieu,  "  La  peinture  en  France  au  debut  du  xve  siecle,"  in  Revue  de  fart  anc. 
ef  mod.,  xix,  pp.  401-15,  xx,  pp.  21-35  ;  and  his  "Jacques  Coene,"  in  Lesarts  anc. 
de  Flandre,  ii,  pp.  5-22. 

266 


FRENCH    ILLUMINATION    AFTER    1400 

of  figures  and  accessories  seen  in  the  miniatures  of  earlier 
date,  match  ill  with  the  realism  which  begins  to  show 
itself  in  these  pictures  with  their  improved  perspective 
and  increasing  attention  to  landscape.  Still  more  striking 
is  this  incongruity  in  a  splendid  copy  of  the  Livre  de  la 
Chasse  of  Gaston  Phe*bus,  Comte  de  Foix  (Bibl.  Nat., 
fr.  6 1 6),  whose  numerous  and  extremely  interesting  illus- 
trations1 quaintly  combine  these  purely  conventional  back- 
grounds with  a  spirited  and  by  no  means  unsuccessful 
attempt  at  naturalistic  treatment  of  woodland  hunting 
scenes.  The  various  operations  of  the  chase  are  depicted 
most  clearly  and  in  the  fullest  detail :  questing  for  trails, 
setting  snares,  traps,  and  nets,  etc.,  nothing  is  forgotten, 
not  even  the  hunters'  meal  in  a  glade  of  the  forest.  The 
various  species  of  game,  and  the  corresponding  breeds  of 
dog,  are  all  recognizable  at  a  glance  ;  and  the  whole  of  the 
foreground,  vegetable  as  well  as  animal,  shows  a  genuine 
and  careful  study  of  nature.  But  on  reaching  the  tree- 
tops  our  artist  almost  invariably  relapses  into  convention- 
alism, and  gives  us,  instead  of  skies,  backgrounds  covered 
with  the  stereotyped  lozengy,  tessellated  or  brocaded 
patterns. 

In  many  manuscripts  of  this  period,  however,  these 
formal  backgrounds  are  discarded  altogether,  and  in  their 
place  we  have  a  clear  blue  sky,  very  pale  at  the  horizon, 
and  deepening  by  careful  gradation  towards  the  top  of  the 
picture.  Of  this  class  are  the  Livre  des  Merveilles  (Bibl. 
Nat.,  fr.  2810),  the  British  Museum  Statins  (Burney  257), 
and  the  famous  Terence  of  the  Arsenal  Library  (No.  664). 
The  first-named  was  apparently  made  for  Philippe  le 
Hardi,  Duke  of  Burgundy  (d.  1404),  whose  son,  John  the 
Fearless,  gave  it  in  1413  to  the  Duke  of  Berry.  It  is  a 
collection  of  Eastern  travellers'  tales,  compiled  from  the 
narratives  of  Marco  Polo,  Mandeville,  and  others ;  and 
its  265  illustrations,2  as  might  be  expected,  are  interesting 

1  Published   in  reduced  facsimile,  ed.  C.    Couderc   [1909].     For   full-sized 
reproductions  see  W.  A.  and  F.  Baillie-Grohman,  The  Master  of  Game,  1904. 

2  Livre  des  Merveilles,  ed.  H.  O[mont],  2  vols.  [1907]. 

267 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

and  amusing,  presenting  a  most  welcome  variety  of 
subject.  The  Arsenal  Terence,1  usually  known  as  the 
"Terence  des  Dues"  from  its  first  possessors,  Louis, 
Duke  of  Guyenne  and  Dauphin  (d.  1415),  and  John, 
Duke  of  Berry,  is  also  very  copiously  illustrated  ;  and  its 
miniatures  have  a  special  value  from  the  complete  absence 
of  any  marvellous  or  symbolical  element  to  interfere  with 
the  simpler  aim  of  depicting  actual  life  as  the  artists  saw 
it.  The  faces  are  well  and  clearly  drawn,  the  posing  and 
grouping  of  the  figures  full  of  dramatic  expressiveness, 
the  costumes  carefully  painted.  The  Statius2  is  a  less 
sumptuous  manuscript,  but  belongs  more  or  less  to  the 
same  family ;  its  figures  are  mostly  in  grisaille,  very  softly 
and  delicately  executed,  with  much  grace  and  charm. 

Among  the  many  fine  Books  of  Hours  of  this  period, 
Lat.  1161  in  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale  is  worthy  of 
special  mention.  As  in  the  Boucicaut  Hours  (with  which 
this  book,  though  on  a  smaller  scale,  has  much  in  common), 
only  a  few  of  the  miniatures  have  sky-backgrounds,  the 
others  having  mostly  a  checkered  pattern,  or  else  purple 
or  blue  covered  with  gold  filigree-work.  The  borders 
are  graceful  and  varied,  containing  among  other  details  of 
ornament  (besides  the  inevitable  ivy-leaf,  which  of  course 
predominates)  the  long  sinuated  leaf  entwined  about  a 
slender  stem,  which  we  noticed  in  some  English  manu- 
scripts of  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century ;  quatrefoils, 
birds,  mermaid,  and  grotesque  organist  also  occur.  The 
miniatures  are  remarkable  for  their  brilliant  yet  finely 
harmonized  colours,  the  rich  bright  red  and  blue  of  the 
costumes  contrasting  effectively  with  the  white  or  pale 
grey  architecture.  The  best  of  them,  perhaps,  is  the 
really  beautiful  half-page  picture  at  the  end,  of  the  Virgin 
and  Child  adored  by  a  lady  whose  guardian  angel  stands 
by  her.  The  burial-scene  in  a  monastic  cemetery,  pre- 
fixed to  the  Vigils  of  the  Dead,  is  an  impressive  and 

1  H.  Martin,  Le  Terence  des  Dues,   1 908,  Les  Miniaturistes  f ran  fats,  1 906, 
fig.  29-32. 

2  Warner,  Reprod.,  iii,  28. 

268 


FRENCH    ILLUMINATION    AFTER    1400 

interesting  composition ;  but  modern  ideas  of  propriety 
are  rudely  jarred  by  the  presence  of  a  white  dog,  squatting 
just  behind  the  celebrant,  in  the  "  Salve  sancta  parens  " 
miniature  (f.  192). 

Closely  allied  to  Lat.  1161  is  a  Horae  in  the  British 
Museum  (Add.  32454), l  whose  miniatures  (above  all,  the 
splendid  Coronation  of  the  Virgin  on  f.  46),  show  the 
same  brilliancy  of  colouring,  and  whose  borders  are  even 
more  varied,  especially  those  which  accompany  the  large 
miniatures.  Some  of  the  devices,  e.g.  putti  springing 
from  flowers,  suggest  the  influence  of  Italian  art ; 
an  influence  unmistakably  present  in  the  decoration 
of  another  Horae  in  the  same  collection  (Add.  29433).2 
This  manuscript  follows  the  liturgical  use  of  Paris, 
and  its  minor  decorations  are  thoroughly  French  in 
style,  with  diapered  grounds  to  the  small  miniatures  ; 
but  in  the  more  elaborate  pages  there  is  a  strong,  some- 
times even  preponderating,  admixture  of  the  Italian  ele- 
ment. These  pages  are  very  finely  executed,  and  glow 
with  burnished  gold  and  bright  colours.  The  borders  are 
filled  with  various  forms  of  natural  or  conventional 
foliage,  partly  painted  on  the  plain  vellum,  partly  against 
a  ground  of  burnished  gold ;  putti  disport  themselves 
among  the  leaves  or  grow  Clytie-wise  out  of  flowers,  and 
birds,  butterflies,  rayed  gilt  discs,  and  detached  flowers  are 
disposed  about  the  margins.  All  this  gaiety  produces 
sometimes  a  whimsical  effect,  as  in  the  opening  page  of 
the  Penitential  Psalms :  the  miniature  represents  the 
damned  being  collected  by  devils  from  castle,  city,  and 
convent,  and  hurled  down  into  hell,  where  they  are 
devoured  by  Satan  and  tortured  by  his  myrmidons ;  but 
instead  of  inspiring  dread  and  horror,  the  whole  picture 
gives  an  impression  of  light-hearted,  hustling  activity. 
There  is  a  touch  of  the  same  bizarre  humour  in  the  fine 
miniature  of  the  Annunciation  :  the  Virgin  and  Gabriel 
are  in  opposite  transepts  of  a  Gothic  church,  while  the 

1  Warner,  Reprod.,  ii,  25  •  Michel,  Hist,  de  I' Art.,  iii,  i,  fig.  96. 
-  Warner,  i,  26. 

269 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

space  between  them,  in  the  nave,  is  occupied  by  a  cat  and 
dog  fighting. 

A  very  finished  and  beautiful  example  of  this  period 
is  the  Burgundy  Breviary  in  the  British  Museum  (Harl. 
2897,  Add.  3531 1).1  Executed  for  John  the  Fearless, 
Duke  of  Burgundy  (1404-19),  and  his  wife  Margaret  of 
Bavaria,  it  was  originally  complete  in  one  volume ;  but 
for  convenience  it  was  soon  afterwards  divided  into  two 
parts,  and  the  Calendar  and  Psalter  duplicated  so  as  to 
complete  the  second  part  (now  Harl.  2897),  the  miniatures 
in  the  second  Psalter  having  evidently  been  copied,  by  a 
somewhat  inferior  hand,  from  those  in  the  first,  or  at  any 
rate  from  the  same  designs.  The  two  volumes,  after 
centuries  of  separation,  were  brought  together  again 
through  the  Rothschild  bequest  in  1899.  Both  volumes 
have  suffered  some  mutilation,  and  the  Rothschild  MS. 
has  now  only  two  large  miniatures,  the  Harleian  but  one. 
All  three  are  of  great  beauty,  and  are  specially  remarkable 
for  their  luxuriant  and  yet  harmonious  colour-scheme. 
Particularly  lovely  is  the  blue,  so  characteristic  of  French 
illumination  at  this  time ;  at  once  cold  and  brilliant, 
exquisitely  transparent  yet  capable  of  forming  a  solid 
mass  upon  the  page,  its  effect  is  always  beautiful  and 
satisfying,  whether  it  be  used  in  a  pure  or  modified  form, 
for  skies,  draperies,  or  ornament.  The  smaller  miniatures 
are  very  numerous,  and  the  best  of  these,  though  less 
imposing  than  the  three  large  paintings,  are  no  whit 
inferior  in  beauty  and  finish.  One  of  the  most  charming 
is  that  of  S.  Anne  teaching  the  Virgin  to  read;2  the  soft 
treatment  of  the  face,  the  delicate  gradations  of  colour, 
the  fine  modelling  of  the  draperies,  are  here  seen  at  their 
best,  and  so  is  the  typical  border-ornament  of  gilt  ivy- 
leaves.  More  sumptuous  and  varied  borders  surround 
the  three  principal  pages.  The  most  splendid  of  these  is 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Psalter  (Add.  35311,  f.  8),  with 
plaques  of  burnished  and  delicately  patterned  gold  en- 

1  Pal.  Sac.,  i,  224-5  ;  Warner,  Ilium.  JifSS.,  pi.  45-6,  Reprod.,  i,  27,  iii,  29-31. 

2  See  Frontispiece. 

270 


FRENCH    ILLUMINATION    AFTER    1400 

closing  half-length  figures  of  David,  Goliath,  and  angel- 
musicians,  and  with  exquisitely  painted  birds  and 
flowers.  Within  the  initial  "B"  on  the  same  page  is  a 
wonderfully  tender  Madonna  holding  the  Child  closely  to 
her  and  sheltering  Him  with  her  cloak.  The  border  of 
the  Ascension-day  page  (Harl.  2897,  f-  i88b)  is  more 
monotonous  in  design ;  its  special  interest  lies  in  the 
graceful  figure  of  a  lady  who  sits  on  a  daisy-studded  lawn 
and  holds  the  shields  of  arms  of  the  Duke  and  Duchess 
— furnishing  the  sole  evidence  as  to  the  history  of  the 
manuscript. 

The  books  mentioned  hitherto  may  serve  to  indicate 
the  abundance  and  the  great,  excellence  of  French  illumina- 
tion in  the  opening  years  of  the  fifteenth  century;  but  they 
all — even  the  Burgundy  Breviary — pale  into  insignificance 
beside  the  glory  of  the  aptly  named  "Tres  Riches  Heures," 
which  Pol  de  Limbourg  and  his  brothers  Jehannequin  and 
Hermann  were  painting  for  the  Duke  of  Berry,  when  his 
death  in  1416  brought  their  work  to  a  premature  end. 
This  wonderful  book,  now  in  the  Musde  Conde*  at  Chan- 
tilly,1  was  completed  about  1485  by  a  miniaturist  named 
Jean  Colombe  for  Charles,  Duke  of  Savoy,  and  his  Duchess, 
Blanche  de  Montferrat ;  and  the  later  illuminations,  ex- 
cellent examples  of  their  period,  only  serve  as  a  foil  to  the 
dazzling  beauty  of  the  pages  painted  by  the  Limbourg 
brothers.  The  latter  begin  with  twelve  full-page  Calendar- 
pictures,  the  occupation-scenes  in  which  were  taken  as 
models  by  Flemish  illuminators  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  e.g.  in  the  Grimani  Breviary  and  the  Hennessy 
Hours.  But  while  the  later  artists  generally  placed  their 
compositions  in  landscapes  of  a  distinctly  Flemish  char- 
acter, Pol  and  his  brothers  paid  a  subtle  compliment  to 
their  patron  by  introducing  a  fine  series  of  paintings  of 
his  chateaux.  Thus  in  March  we  see  the  fortress  of 
Lusignan,  with  the  dragon-fairy  MeUusine  flying  to  re- 

1  No.  1284.  See  the  Chantilly  Catalogue^  i,  pp.  59-71,  pi.  5-8;  Delisle,  in 
Gazette  des  Beaux-Artsy  1884,  i,  pp.  401-4  (four  plates);  and  above  all  Durrieu's 
two  stately  volumes,  Les  Tres  Riches  Heures  de  Jean,  due  de  Beriy,  1904. 

271 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 

join  her  husband  Raymondin  ;  the  dainty  and  gracious 
betrothal-scene,  which  illustrates  April,  is  placed  just  out- 
side the  walls  of  Dourdan;  the  May-day  hunting-party 
rides  through  a  wood  above  which  the  towers  of  Riom 
are  visible.  Moreover,  the  Duke  himself  is  represented 
in  the  January  picture,  sitting  in  state  at  a  banquet,  con- 
versing with  an  ecclesiastic,  while  groups  of  fashionably 
dressed  courtiers  stand  about.  Above  each  of  these 
pictures,  in  a  semicircle  enclosed  by  a  starry  arch  bearing 
the  zodiacal  signs  for  the  month,  is  the  chariot  of  the  sun, 
drawn  by  winged  steeds  across  the  sky. 

Landscape-painting  is  not  confined  to  the  Calendar, 
but  is  used  when  possible  to  enrich  the  scriptural  and 
hagiographical  scenes.  The  meeting  of  Mary  and  Eliza- 
beth,1 for  instance,  takes  place  in  a  region  of  bleak  and 
craggy  hills,  with  a  stately  pinnacled  city  in  the  distance. 
More  specially  appropriate  is  the  illustration  to  the  Mass 
of  S.  Michael — a  fine  picture  of  Mont  S.  Michel  with  its 
abbey  buildings  and  with  the  waves  breaking  at  the  foot 
of  the  mount,  the  islet  of  Tombelaine  in  the  offing,  the 
Archangel  and  Satan  fighting  furiously  in  mid-air. 

Masterly  artists  in  every  way,  it  is  as  colourists  above 
all  that  the  Limbourg  brothers  show  their  consummate 
powers.  At  once  brilliant  and  delicate,  clean  without 
hardness,  and  infinitely  varied  without  loss  of  unity,  the 
colouring  could  hardly  be  surpassed  in  beauty;  on  vellum, 
at  any  rate,  it  assuredly  never  has  been.  Most  of  the 
pages  glow  with  bright  and  joyous  sunlight ;  but  night- 
effects  are  attempted  with  great  success  in  a  few  pictures, 
as  in  the  dusky  blue  of  the  Gethsemane  scene,  where  the 
soldiers  fall  prostrate  before  the  divine  majesty  of  Christ; 
or  in  the  lurid  darkness  of  hell,  with  the  devils,  and  the 
lost  souls  whom  they  torture  with  every  circumstance  of 
medieval  ingenuity,  seen  dimly  in  the  smoky  gloom. 

Very  little  is  known  as  to  Pol  and  his  brothers,  beyond 
the  fact  that  for  the  last  few  years  of  the  Duke  of  Berry's 
life  they  were  salaried  members  of  his  household.  A 

1  PI.  xl. 

272 


the 


in  a  semicircle  e 


lurid 


PLATE  XL 


"  TRES   RICHES  HEURES "  OF  JEAN    DUG   DE   BERRY,   D.    1416 

BY   PAUL    DE   LIMBOURG   AND    HIS    BROTHERS.    CHANTII.LY,    MUSRE    CONDK 


cont.  T  port 

it  was  given  by  J. 

short  of  the  "T 

page  of  text  has  a  full  border  of  t) 

most  elaborate  t  in  th 

e    luxuriant,   with    colunv 
;rs  combined  with  ivy-leaf  and 

brilliant    little    medallion-miniature 

the  Calendar  are  four  full-page  paintings 
ithout  bo* 


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ler-orn 

of  1  256! 

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.  288b) 

. 


PI,A  TK     XLl 


rvs*r! '  w«^»M\f  j-ip  * 

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\JMV  iqnjctiuinifir  ^  rdmublc  vioifir  on(ciatf oamnifr 


v:iaurbimquU(airionnc 

o:r.comTa .  iifomirin.T; 


';-. 


BEDFORD  HOURS.  FRENCH,  CIRCA  1423 

BRIT.    MUS.   ADD.    18850 


FRENCH    ILLUMINATION    AFTER    1400 

of  this  period,  even  more  plentifully  adorned  with  minia- 
tures, though  hardly  of  quite  so  high  a  level  of  artistic 
excellence  ;  made  for  Admiral  Prigent  de  Coetivy 
(d.  1450),  probably  before  1445.  In  colouring  the  contrast 
between  the  two  manuscripts  is  great,  the  Dunois  book 
having  all  the  rich  brilliancy  of  its  class,  while  most  of 
the  miniatures  in  the  Coetivy  Hours  are  painted  in  what 
is  practically  a  modification  of  grisaille,  the  draperies 
being  left  white,  against  backgrounds  coloured  in  light 
tones. 

Somewhat  earlier  is  the  Psalter  of  Henry  VI,1  which 
was  probably  a  gift  from  his  mother,  Queen  Catherine, 
on  his  coronation  in  1430.  It  has  nothing  like  the  wealth 
of  illustration  with  which  the  manuscripts  just  described 
abound  ;  but  its  fifteen  miniatures  are  all  finely  executed, 
and  six  of  them  have  an  added  interest  from  the  portraits 
of  the  young  king  which  they  contain — now  kneeling 
before  the  Image  of  Pity  or  the  Virgin  and  Child,  now 
looking  on  at  the  combat  between  David  and  Goliath. 
The  borders  show  the  gilt  ivy-leaf  style  at  its  best,  and 
the  church  scenes,  with  nuns  and  friars  singing  the 
office,  are  admirable  both  for  the  display  of  architec- 
tural detail  and  for  the  soft  and  delicate  treatment  of 
the  faces. 

The  first  half  of  the  fifteenth  century  was  the  flower- 
ing-time of  French  illumination  in  the  proper  sense  of 
the  term.  An  immense  quantity  was  produced  in  the 
next  fifty  or  sixty  years,  and  some  of  this  has  considerable 
artistic  merit ;  its  special  beauty,  however,  is  that  of 
pictures  on  a  small  scale,  painted  on  vellum  instead  of 
wood  or  canvas,  rather  than  that  of  manuscript  pages 
fittingly  adorned.  The  great  master  of  the  new  school 
was  Jean  Fouquet,  who,  after  receiving  unstinted  praise 
from  his  contemporaries  and  immediate  successors, 
Italian  as  well  as  French  (he  is  enshrined  in  the  pages  of 
Vasari),  fell  into  neglect  for  nearly  three  centuries,  but 
has  been  amply  rehabilitated  in  recent  years ;  on  few 

1  Brit.  Mus.,  Dom.  A.  xvii.     See  Warner,  Ilium.  MSS^  pi.  48,  Reprod.,  i,  29. 

277 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

painters  indeed,  certainly  on  no  other  miniaturist,  have 
such  unremitting  study  and  research  been  lavished.1 

Born  at  Tours  about  1410-20,  he  went  to  Rome  while 
still  a  young  man,  and  painted  there,  apparently  between 
1443  and  1447,  a  portrait  of  Pope  Eugenius  IV,  on 
canvas,  for  the  church  of  S.  Maria  sopra  Minerva.  He 
probably  returned  to  France  soon  after,  but  nothing  is 
actually  known  of  his  movements  until  1461,  when  he 
was  commissioned  to  paint  the  dead  King  Charles  VI  Fs 
portrait.  From  this  time  till  his  death,  which  took  place 
between  1477  and  1481,  his  abode  was  at  Tours,  where 
he  was  engaged  from  time  to  time  in  designing  the 
decorations  for  great  civic  displays.  When  Louis  XI 
instituted  the  order  of  S.  Michael,  in  1469,  Fouquet  was 
charged  with  the  execution  of  "certains  tableaux  .  .  . 
pour  servir  aux  chevaliers  de  1'ordre "  ;  these  are  not 
specified,  but  they  doubtless  included  the  frontispiece  to 
the  copy  of  the  Statutes  now  in  the  Bibl.  Nat.  (fr.  19819),* 
which  represents  the  royal  founder  presiding  at  a 
chapter.  In  1474  he  received  payment  "  pour  avoir  tire 
et  peint  sur  parchemin  "  a  portrait  of  Louis  when  that 
monarch  was  having  his  tomb  prepared  in  advance  ;  and 
in  1475  he  was  dignified  with  the  title  "  Peintre  du  Roy." 
Contemporary  records  further  show  that  he  was  com- 
missioned to  illuminate  a  Book  of  Hours  for  the  Duchess 
of  Orleans  in  1472,  and  another  for  Philippe  de  Commines, 
apparently  in  or  before  1474. 

None  of  these  works  of  Fouquet's  is  now  known  to 
exist,  with  the  single  exception  of  the  frontispiece  to  the 
Statutes  of  the  Order  of  S.  Michael ;  and  even  that  is  not 
so  precisely  documented  as  could  be  wished.  So  this 
great  painter  would  be  a  mere  name  to  us,  but  for  a  note 
which  Francois  Robertet  was  happily  inspired  to  insert, 
between  1488  and  1503,  in  a  volume  then  belonging  to 

1  The  Fouquet  literature  is  vast  and  scattered,  but  its  results  are  very  fully 
and  carefully  set  forth  by  Durrieu,  Les  Antiquitls  Juddiques  et  le  peintre  Jean 
Foucquet,  1908.      For  a  more  succinct  but  useful  summary,  see  G.   Lafenestre, 
Jehan  Fouquet ^  1905. 

2  Durrieu,  Ant.  Jud.,  pi.  19. 

278 


FRENCH    ILLUMINATION    AFTER    1400 

his  master  Pierre  de  Bourbon,  Sire  de  Beaujeu  and  Due 
de  Bourbon.  This  volume  (now  Bibl.  Nat.,  fr.  247)  con- 
tains the  first  half  of  a  French  translation  of  Josephus' 
Antiquities  of  the  Jews  and  Jewish  War,  written  originally 
for  the  Due  de  Berry  between  1403  and  1413;  and  the 
note  states  explicitly  that  its  first  three  "ystoires"  are  by 
"  1'enlumineur  du  due  Jehan  de  Berry,"  and  the  remaining 
nine  (or  rather,  actually,  eleven)  are  by  the  hand  "d'un 
bon  peintre  et  enlumineur  du  roi  Loys  XIe,  Jehan  Fouc- 
quet,  natif  de  Tours."  These  "ystoires"  are  of  large  size 
and  in  perfect  preservation,  and  sufficiently  varied  in  sub- 
ject to  enable  modern  critics  at  once  to  endorse  the  verdict 
of  his  contemporaries  and  to  form  some  idea  of  his  dis- 
tinctive characteristics  ;  and  his  hand  has  consequently 
been  recognized  in  other  paintings,  both  miniatures  and 
panels,  the  latter  including  some  splendid  portraits.  The 
second  volume  of  the  Josephus,  long  given  up  as  lost, 
reappeared  in  1903  at  Sotheby's  sale-rooms,  where  it  was 
bought  by  Mr.  Yates  Thompson.  It  then  lacked  twelve 
of  its  thirteen  miniatures,  but  ten  of  the  missing  ones 
were  discovered  two  years  later  by  Sir  G.  Warner,  in  an 
album  of  detached  leaves  belonging  to  the  Royal  Library 
at  Windsor;  and  thanks  to  King  Edward's  public-spirited 
generosity  and  that  of  Mr.  Yates  Thompson  the  volume, 
complete  but  for  two  leaves,  has  now  rejoined  its  com- 
panion in  the  Paris  Library,  where  it  is  numbered  nouv. 
acq.  fr.  21013.  I*s  opening  miniature  is  unmistakably 
by  Fouquet ;  and  the  others,  though  much  smaller,  are  in 
exactly  the  same  manner,  so  that  if  (as  some  critics  hold) 
they  are  not  the  master's  own  work,  they  must  at  any  rate 
be  assigned  to  a  singularly  faithful  and  skilful  disciple.1 

We  need  not  follow  those  daring  critics  who  see  in 
certain  manuscripts2  the  work  of  Fouquet  in  his  youth, 

1  All  the  miniatures  of  both  volumes,  together  with  other  examples  of  Fou- 
quet's  work,  are  reproduced  by  Durrieu,  Ant.  Jud, ;  for  reduced  facsimiles  of  the 
Josephus  miniatures,  see  H.  O[mont],  Antiquites  et  Guerre  des  Juifs  de  Josephe 
[1906], 

2  e.g.  Brit.  Mus.,  Add.  28785  (Warner,  Reprod.,  ii,  30),  a  Book  of   Hours 
whose  interesting  miniatures  are  specially  admirable  for  their  distant  landscapes. 

279 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

before  his  style  had  reached  the  maturity  evident  in  the 
splendid  paintings  of  the  Josephus.  The  latter  show 
plainly  the  hand  of  a  great  master  in  the  plenitude  of  his 
powers ;  their  large  manner,  moreover,  bespeaks  the 
"peintre"  rather  than  the  "enlumineur."  In  his  faculty 
for  handling  landscape,  his  understanding  of  open-air 
effects,  Fouquet  rivals  the_  great  Flemish  painters  of  his 
time ;  he  resembles  them  too  in  the  homely  directness 
of  his  portraiture.  From  Italy  he  seems  to  have  borrowed 
little  directly  beyond  architectural  details,  in  particular  the 
twisted  columns  of  S.  Peter's ;  but  there  are  suggestions 
of  Italian  influence  in  some  of  his  figure-compositions. 
His  pictures  are  admirably  planned,  with  an  unerring 
sense  of  balance  and  due  proportion  between  the  several 
parts.  In  battle-scenes  and  processions,  especially,  he 
excels  in  combining  the  total  effect  of  serried  crowds  with 
life  and  individuality  in  the  single  figures.  All  these 
characteristics  appear  in  other  miniatures,  along  with 
more  minute  traits  which  stamp  them  as  Fouquet's  work 
beyond  all  question  ;  among  these  are  the  illustrations 
of  the  Grandes  Chroniques  de  France,1  the  Munich  Boc- 
cace,2  painted  for  Laurens  Gyrard  in  or  soon  after  1458, 
and  above  all  the  Hours  of  Iitienne  Chevalier.  The 
last-named  manuscript,  Fouquet's  great  masterpiece,  was 
probably  painted  in  or  before  1461,  since  it  contains 
a  representation  of  Charles  VII  as  one  of  the  Magi. 
Etienne  Chevalier,  for  whom  it  was  made,  as  appears  by 
his  initials3  or  full  name  being  introduced  into  most  of 
the  miniatures  or  ornamental  initials,  was  a  personage  of 
great  note  under  Charles  VII  and  Louis  XI,  from  about 
1440  until  his  death  in  1474.  His  portrait  occurs  twice 

1  Bibl.  Nat.,  fr.   6465.      Published  in  reduced  facsimile   by  H.   O[mont], 
Grandes  Chroniques  de  France  [1906]. 

2  Munich,  Hofbibl.,  Cod.  gall.  369.     See  Durrieu,  Le  Boccace  de  Munich, 
Reproduction  des  gi  miniatures,  1909. 

3  The  same  "EC"  device  appears  in  a  charming  little  Horae  now  in  the 
British  Museum  (Add.  16997.    See  Pal.  Soc.,  ii,  116 ;  Warner,  Ilium.  MSS.,  pi.  49, 
Reprod.,  i,  30) ;  a  manuscript  probably  of  slightly  earlier  date,  and  certainly  not  by 
Fouquet. 

280 


PLATE  XLII 


HORAE  OF  E.  CHEVALIER,  BY  JEAN  FOUQUET,  MID.  XV™  CENT. 


CHANTII.LY,  MUSP.E  CONDK 


Cruc 
t touch 

in  tr  nan  dr 

the  deepi  Q  of  a 

of  the  subjects  too  are  unusual :  the  t 
of  the  Aj  Gruyer,  pi.  20),  fo: 

>icture  of  the  an 
her  ith. 

and  Franco 
ad  it  may  be  that  tb 
nciscus"  who  illustrated  a  hi 

Vai 


of  the  tir 

least,  are  extant :  one 
executed  for  Ren£  II 

Fr.%  ii,  Nos.  141- 
1907  ;  aln 

*  Warner,  Valet 


FRENCH    ILLUMINATION    AFTER    1400 

hand,  however,  in  five  other  manuscripts  now  in  French 
libraries ;  and  a  sixth,  executed  apparently  for  Jean 
Bourgeois  soon  after  1490,  has  been  found  in  the  Univer- 
sity Library  at  Innsbruck.1  All  these  show  some 
lingering  traces  of  Fouquet's  influence,  particularly  the 
Innsbruck  MS.,  which  contains  a  miniature  of  David 
praying,  clad  in  full  armour,  directly  reminiscent  of  the 
corresponding  picture  in  the  Chevalier  Hours  (Brit.  Mus., 
Add.  37421).  The  best  of  them  is  undoubtedly  the 
Hours  of  Anne  of  Brittany,  in  its  somewhat  decadent 
way  a  veritable  masterpiece.  The  groups  are  well  planned, 
the  landscapes  and  architectural  ornaments  are  finely 
painted,  but  the  faces,  though  not  without  a  certain 
individuality,  are  sentimental,  sleek,  lacking  in  animation. 
Though  not  a  great  master,  Bourdichon  evidently  had 
a  numerous  following ;  more  or  less  feeble  imitations  of 
his  manner  abound  in  almost  every  large  library,2  the 
dying  efforts  of  French  illumination. 

1  See  H.  J.  Hermann,  "  Ein  unbekanntes  Gebetbuch  von  Jean  Bourdichon,"  in 
Beitrdge  zur  Kunstgeschichte,  Franz  Wickhoff  geividmet,  1903,  pp.  46-63. 

2  Samples  may  be  seen  in  the  Brit.  Mus.  MSS.  Add.  18854  (executed  in  1525 
for  Francois  de  Dinteville,  Bishop  of  Auxerre),   18855,  (early  sixteenth  century, 
contrasting  unfavourably  with  two  leaves  from  an  exquisite  Flemish  calendar,  of 
about  the  same  period,  inserted  at  the  end  of  the  volume),  and  35254,  T-V.    The 
last,  three  leaves  from  a  large  Book  of  Hours,  early  sixteenth  century,  is  decidedly 
the  best  of  these ;  it  is  perhaps  the  work  of  one  of  Bourdichon's  pupils. 


285 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE   ITALIAN   RENAISSANCE 

WE  saw  that  in  the  fourteenth  century  Italy  failed 
to  reach  in  illumination  a  pre-eminence  com- 
mensurate with  that  which  she  achieved  in 
fresco  and  panel  painting.  Speaking  broadly,  the  same 
may  be  said  of  the  fifteenth  century.  In  the  first  half 
she  is  eclipsed  by  the  Franco-Flemish  schools ;  and  in 
the  second,  when  her  distinctive  style  had  reached  full 
maturity,  even  her  most  superb  productions  are  rivalled, 
if  not  surpassed,  by  the  more  sober  colouring  and  the 
minuter  finish  of  the  finest  Flemish  work  of  the  same 
period.  Her  prime  too  was  much  briefer  than  her 
Northern  rival's,  her  decay  more  rapid  and  complete  ;  in  all 
the  mass  of  Italian  sixteenth  century  illumination  that 
exists  there  is  little  which  gives  the  beholder  anything 
like  complete  satisfaction  by  its  beauty,  which  does  not 
rather  repel  him  by  its  tasteless  exuberance  of  ornament 
and  its  ill-harmonized  scheme  of  colour. 

No  great  masterpieces  have  survived  from  the  early 
decades  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  there  is  no  reason 
for  supposing  that  any  were  produced ;  but  the  con- 
tinuance and  gradual  development  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury style  often  produced  very  pleasing  results.  A  fair 
sample  of  the  work  of  this  period  may  be  seen  in  the 
Hymnal  of  the  Austin  Hermits  of  Siena,1  dated  1415, 
and  decorated  with  large  historiated  initials  and  pendent 
borders.  Compared  with  the  fourteenth  century  Vallom- 
brosa  Gradual 2  which  stands  near  it  in  the  same  show- 

1  Brit.  Mus.,  Add.  30014.     See  Warner,  Reprod.,  i,  45  (accidentally  given  the 
lettering  which  belongs  to  pi.  46). 

2  Add.  18198.     See  above,  p.  259. 

286 


THE    ITALIAN    RENAISSANCE 

case  at  the  British  Museum,  it  marks  a  considerable 
advance ;  not  so  much  in  the  miniatures  (though  these 
too  show  more  elaboration  of  detail,  more  effort  after 
minute  finish)  as  in  the  borders.  These  are  a  modifica- 
tion of  the  old  rod-and-acanthus  design :  the  rods  become 
less  prominent  and  are  usually  curved,  the  leaves  grow 
more  freely  and  luxuriantly,  and  flowers  and  delicate 
sprays  of  foliage  issue  at  the  corners  and  extremities ; 
human,  grotesque,  and  other  figures  too  are  introduced — 
a  monk  praying,  a  woman  carrying  a  basket  on  her  head, 
a  bird  flying  with  food  to  its  nestlings,  etc.  The  most 
elaborate  page  is  at  Christmas  (f.  51),  where  the  initial 
encloses  a  miniature  of  the  Nativity  in  a  landscape  of  snow- 
clad  hills,  the  Annunciation  to  the  Shepherds  is  depicted 
in  an  interesting  pastoral  scene  in  the  lower  margin,  and 
the  borders  are  enriched  with  medallions  of  angel- 
musicians  and  half-length  figures  of  David  and  John  the 
Baptist.  The  miniature  has  a  sky  of  stippled  gold,  and 
is  surrounded  with  a  square  frame  filled  with  a  geo- 
metrical repeat-pattern.  Throughout  the  volume,  though 
the  technique  is  not  of  the  highest  quality,  the  total  effect 
is  satisfying,  sometimes  even  charming,  through  the 
simplicity  and  good  taste  of  the  compositions  and  orna- 
ment, and  above  all  through  the  purity  and  brilliance  of 
the  colour-scheme,  with  its  predominant  gold  and  ver- 
milion set  off  against  paler  tints  and  the  plain  vellum. 
The  manuscript  is  full  of  exquisite  lace-work  initials  in 
red  and  blue — another  heritage  from  the  preceding  cen- 
tury. 

This  Hymnal  is  of  special  interest  as  being  a  complete 
manuscript,  and  one  whose  date  and  place  of  origin  are 
known.  The  finest  specimens  of  its  class  are  mostly 
found  (outside  Italy,  at  all  events)  in  single  leaves  or  por- 
tions of  leaves,  ruthlessly  cut  out  from  choir-books  to 
enrich  collectors'  albums.  Among  many  such  cuttings 
that  have  found  their  way  to  the  British  Museum  are  two 
large  miniatures,  which  have  evidently  been  taken  from 
early  fifteenth  century  Sienese  choir-books.  Both  are 

287 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

resplendent  with  vermilion  and  burnished  gold  ;  and  both 
are  enclosed  in  tessellated  frames,  like  the  Nativity  in  the 
Hymnal.  Characteristic  too  of  the  school  are  the  large- 
ness and  simplicity  of  the  compositions,  and  the  serene, 
slightly  sentimental  facial  types.  One  of  these  paintings1 
represents  the  Burial  and  Assumption  of  the  Virgin, 
between  two  precipitous  hills  of  the  familiar  primitive 
Italian  type,  against  a  vast  expanse  of  gold  background  ; 
the  other2  treats  the  subject  of  the  Annunciation  in  a 
somewhat  original  way,  Gabriel  being  half-hidden  by  the 
elaborately  foliated  "R"  which  encloses  the  picture.  The 
Sienese  school  was  exceptionally  conservative,  and  these 
miniatures  form  an  interesting  link  between  the  great 
masterpiece  of  Niccolo  di  Ser  Sozzo  and  the  illuminations 
painted  by  Sano  di  Pietro,  after  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  in  choir-books  still  preserved  in  the  cathedral  at 
Siena. 

Fra  Angelico  is  sometimes  said  to  have  practised 
illumination,  and  he  has  actually  been  credited  with  the 
decoration  of  certain  choir-books  now  exhibited  in  the 
Museo  di  S.  Marco  at  Florence.  But  this  attribution 
seems  ill-founded,3  though  signs  of  his  influence  are 
obvious  ;  and  there  is  no  real  evidence  that  he  painted  on 
vellum  at  all.  The  history  of  Florentine  illumination  in 
the  earlier  part  of  the  fifteenth  century  is  obscure ;  and 
much  the  same  may  be  said  of  Italian  illumination  gener- 
ally during  that  period,  until  the  Renaissance  infused  new 
life  into  the  art.  One  of  the  first  indications  of  the  new 
movement  was  a  revival  of  the  style  of  script  and  decora- 
tion of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries.  This  appears 
as  early  as  1433,  in  a  copy  of  Justinus  made  at  Verona  ; 4 
still  earlier  at  Florence,  in  a  Valerius  Flaccus  written  in 

1  Add.  37955.  A. 

2  Add.  35254,  C.     See  pi.  xliv. 

3  See  Langton  Douglas,  Fra  Angelico,  1902,  p.   159.      For  descriptions  of 
the  S.  Marco  MSS.  see  F.  Rondoni,  Guida  del  R.  Museo  fiorentino  di  S.  Marco, 
1872,  and  for  plates,  V.  Marchese,  S.  Marco,  Convento  del  Padri  Predicaiori  in 
Firenze,  1853. 

4  Brit.  Mus.,  Add.  12012.     See  Pal.  Soc.>  i,  252. 

288 


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SCOTUS,  QUAESTIONES  IN  SENTENTIAS.  ITALIAN,  1458-94 

BRIT.    MUS.    ADD.    15273 


THE    ITALIAN    RENAISSANCE 

book  already  shows  signs  of  decadent  taste.  The  details 
of  ornament,  exquisitely  painted  though  they  be,  are  ill- 
distributed,  now  crowding  up  the  borders  with  reckless 
profusion,  now  arranged  in  stiff  and  monotonous  sym- 
metry. The  miniatures  too  are  often  hampered  with 
incongruous  details,  and  lacking  in  spaciousness  of  com- 
position. The  pages  are  gorgeous,  magnificent ;  but  few 
of  them  are  satisfying.  Among  still  later  Este  manu- 
scripts the  Officium  of  Alfonso  I  (circa  1505-10),  in  the 
Austria-Este  Library,  and  the  Missal  of  Cardinal  Ippolito  I 
(1503-20),  in  the  University  Library  at  Innsbruck,  deserve 
mention  for  the  fine  pictures  which  both  contain  ;  but 
these  are  only  the  last  flickerings  of  a  moribund  art. 

Dr.  Hermann's  admirable  survey  of  Ferrarese  illu- 
mination, on  which  the  above  brief  sketch  is  based,  gives 
a  fairly  accurate  idea  of  the  course  of  development  and 
decay  of  Renaissance  illumination  in  any  of  the  great 
centres  of  Italian  painting.  The  names  of  patrons  change 
— we  have  the  Medicis  at  Florence,  the  Sforzas  at  Milan, 
and  so  on  ;  so  do  the  names  of  artists,  where  these  are 
known  at  all.  There  are  great  varieties  of  style,  due  to 
the  special  circumstances  of  a  local  school  or  the  individual 
genius  of  a  great  master.  But  the  general  trend  is  much 
the  same  everywhere,  though  its  course  cannot  as  a  rule 
be  followed  step  by  step  for  lack  of  material,  or  of  precise 
data  with  regard  to  the  abundant  material  which  exists. 
One  of  the  few  exceptions  is  the  Venetian  school,  whose 
successive  stages  are  shown  by  the  Ducali  in  almost 
uninterrupted  continuity  down  even  to  the  eighteenth 
century.1  Strictly  speaking,  the  Ducale  was  the  covenant 
which  the  Doge  made  with  the  Venetian  people  on  his 
election  ;  but  the  term  is  also  applied  in  a  more  general 
sense  to  ducal  commissions  and  other  documents,  and 
even  to  congratulatory  addresses  offered  to  a  Doge.  The 
decoration  of  the  earlier  Ducali  was  usually  confined  to 
a  figure-initial  with  pendent  border-ornament,  and  had 

1  Holmes  and  Madden's  Catalogue  of  Ducali  (Brit.  Mus.,  Add.  20758)  ranges 
from  1367  to  1718. 

293 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

little  artistic  significance  ; l  but  it  became  more  elaborate 
about  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  began  to 
be  fairly  representative  of  Venetian  illumination.  The 
earliest  Ducale  in  the  British  Museum,  the  covenant  of 
Cristoforo  Mauro,  1462*  has  on  the  first  page  three 
illuminated  initials,  besides  a  full  border  of  flowers,  rayed 
discs,  and  filigree-stems,  with  numerous  small  figures  of 
birds,  foxes,  etc.,  painted  on  the  plain  vellum  (like  the 
Ferrarese  borders  described  above),  and  enclosing  medal- 
lions of  apes,  lions,  and  other  animals,  with  the  Mauro 
arms  within  a  wreath  supported  by  putti  in  the  lower 
margin.  The  principal  initial  contains  (or  rather,  is  re- 
placed by)  a  miniature  of  the  Doge  adoring  the  enthroned 
Madonna  and  Child  between  S.  Mark  and  S.  Bernardino  ; 
finely  painted,  for  the  most  part  in  subdued  colours,  but 
lit  up  by  the  deep  crimson  of  the  Doge's  robe.  Venetian 
illumination  is  seen  at  its  best  in  this  early  Renaissance 
phase,  preserving  due  balance  between  text,  ornament, 
and  figure-composition.  The  full-page  frontispiece  which 
usually  adorns  the  later  Ducali 3  is  more  imposing,  with 
its  gorgeous  colouring  and  florid  design,  but  is  much  less 
satisfying  as  a  work  of  art ;  lacking  as  it  does  the 
essential  character  of  miniature,  it  quickly  degenerates 
into  a  poor  imitation  of  panel-painting  on  a  reduced  scale. 
Florence,  the  great  home  of  all  the  arts,  produced  a 
large  number  of  illuminated  manuscripts  during  the 
Renaissance  period ;  but  comparatively  few  of  these 
approach  the  first  rank.  There  are  two  manuscripts  in 
the  British -Museum  which  contain  the  Medici  arms,  and 
were  perhaps  made  for  Lorenzo  the  Magnificent  himself, 
to  whose  time  (1469-92)  they  seem  to  belong ;  but  they 
cannot  be  called  better  than  mediocre.  One  of  them  is  a 

1  See  L.  Testi,  Storia  della  Pittura  Veneziana,  i,  1909,  pp.  503,  512-15. 

2  Add.  15816.     See  Warner,  Reprod.,  i,  48. 

3  There  are  many  of  these  in  the  British  Museum,  including  a  volume  (Add. 
20916)  filled  with  detached  frontispieces,  late  fifteenth  century  to  1620.     Of  the 
rest,  the  following  may  be  noted  as  fair  samples  of  their  respective  periods  : — Add. 
21463  (1486,  see  Warner,  i,  49),  18000(1521),  21414  (c.  1530),  17373  (1554).  and 
King's  156  (1568). 

294 


THE    ITALIAN    RENAISSANCE 


Breviary  (Add.  25697),  the  other  a  Petrarch  (Harl. 
both  are  very  small  books,  and  are  chiefly  worth  notice 
for  the  border-ornament,  which  is  characteristically 
Florentine,  painted  on  the  plain  vellum,  and  differing 
chiefly  from  the  North  Italian  border,  already  described, 
in  its  profusion  of  rayed  gilt  discs.  The  Petrarch  also 
has  tiny  vignette  miniatures  at  the  foot  of  the  pages, 
representing  the  Triumphs  in  a  sketchy,  but  skilful 
and  effective  manner.  Another  type  of  border,  not 
peculiar  to  Florence,  but  often  found  also  in  Milanese  and 
other  illuminations  of  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
appears  in  Add.  33997,  a  Horae  made  in  Florence,  after 
1472,*  for  a  lady  named  Smeralda,  consisting  mainly  of 
arabesques  in  dead  gold  on  blue,  green,  or  crimson 
grounds,  enclosed  in  a  rectangular  frame.  The  colouring 
in  this  manuscript  is  brilliant,  but  somewhat  hard  ;  one 
of  the  most  pleasing  features  in  the  book  is  the  half- 
length  portrait  of  a  fair-haired  girl  (evidently  the  lady 
Smeralda),  which  appears  on  almost  all  the  illuminated 
pages.  Both  styles  of  border  are  used  in  the  decoration 
of  Add.  29735^  a  Breviary  of  the  great  Franciscan  convent 
of  S.  Croce,  written  towards  the  end  of  the  century 
(certainly  after  April  14,  1482,  the  Calendar  citing  a  decree 
of  that  date,  instituting  the  Feast  of  S.  Bonaventura). 
The  more  sumptuous  style,  with  grounds  of  crimson, 
blue,  and  green,  occurs  only  on  the  opening  page  of  the 
Temporale  (f.  7)  :  the  most  elaborate  page  in  the  book, 
the  lower  border  filled  with  a  miniature  of  the  Annuncia- 
tion, the  arabesques  at  the  sides  interrupted  by  half- 
length  figures  of  saints  set  in  richly  jewelled  medallions. 
The  long  narrow  picture  of  the  Annunciation  is  very 
carefully  painted  ;  it  has  some  resemblance  in  manner  to 
Lorenzo  di  Credi's  panels,  especially  in  the  sentimental 
figures  of  the  kneeling  Gabriel  and  his  attendant  angels. 
Borders  of  the  lighter  and  more  graceful  type,  with 

1  Warner,  ii,  48. 

2  Having  the  Translation  of  S.  Bernardino  in  the  Calendar. 

3  Pal.  Soc.,  i,  227;  Guide  to  Exhibited  MSS.,  1906,  p.  139;  Warner,  ii,  50. 

295 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

figure-initials,  abound  throughout  the  volume  ;  and  there 
is  an  interesting  miniature,  at  the  Invention  of  the  Cross 
(f.  i2yb),  of  the  miracle  whereby  the  true  cross  was 
recognized. 

To  be  seen  at  its  best,  however,  Florentine  illumina- 
tion should  be  studied  in  the  work  of  Attavante ;  or  in 
such  books  as  the  beautiful  little  Horae  of  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent,  formerly  Libri  MS.  1874  in  the  Ashburn- 
ham  Library,1  but  now  restored  to  the  Laurentian 
Library  at  Florence.  The  latter  volume,  like  its 
companion,  the  "  Liber  Precatorius "  in  the  Munich 
Library  (Cimel.  42),2  was  written  in  1485  by  the  famous 
scribe  Antonio  Sinibaldi.  Its  little  miniatures  are 
surrounded  with  very  lovely  borders,  in  which  tiny  but 
wonderfully  lifelike  amorini  uphold  festoons  and  vases 
of  fruit  and  flowers,  amidst  a  well-ordered  medley  of 
medallions,  cherubs,  birds,  sphinxes,  etc.,  and  the 
characteristic  scroll  of  foliage,  flowers,  and  rayed  gilt 
discs.  All  this  sounds  crowded,  especially  when  one 
considers  that  the  whole  page  measures  only  six  inches 
by  four  ;  and  yet,  painted  on  the  plain  white  vellum,  it 
produces  a  light  and  charming  effect. 

Attavante  degli  Attavanti,  the  most  famous  of  the 
Florentine  miniaturists,  had  the  useful  habit  of  signing 
his  work,  much  of  which  has  survived.  Mr.  Bradley8 
enumerates  no  less  than  thirty-one  manuscripts  certainly 
or  probably  illuminated  by  him.  Born  in  1452,  he  had 
already  established  his  reputation  by  1483,  when  he  was 
commissioned  by  Thomas  James,  Bishop  of  Dol,  to 
decorate  a  Missal  which  is  now  in  the  treasury  of  Lyons 
Cathedral ;  *  and  in  the  next  few  years  he  illustrated 
several  volumes  for  that  great  book-lover  Mathias  Cor- 
vinus,  King  of  Hungary  (d.  1490).  One  of  these,  a 

1  Pal.  Soc.,  ii,  19. 

2  L.  von  Kobell,  Kunstvolle  Miniaturen,  p.  88. 

3  Diet,  of  Miniaturists,  i,  pp.  74-80.     See  too  P.  d'Ancona,  in  Thieme  and 
Becker's  Allgemeines  Lexikon  der  bildenden  Kiinstler,  ii,  1908,  pp.  214-16. 

*  Described,  with  illustrations,  by  E.  Bertaux  and  G.  Birot  in  Revue  de  I' Art 
Anc.  et  Mod.,  xx,  pp.  129-46. 

296 


THE    ITALIAN    RENAISSANCE 

Missal  executed  in  1485-7,  and  now  in  the  Royal  Library 
at  Brussels,1  may  be  taken  as  representing  his  style  at  its 
best.  It  is  splendidly  decorated  throughout,  especially 
the  great  double-page  paintings  prefixed  to  the  Temporale 
and  the  Canon  (ff.  80-9,  193^4),  the  latter  including 
a  fine  picture  of  the  Crucifixion  set  in  the  foreground  of  a 
Tuscan  landscape.  It  is  in  the  accessories,  however, 
rather  than  the  large  figure-compositions,  that  Attavante 
finds  the  most  congenial  scope  for  his  powers  :  he  delights 
in  gorgeous  colouring  and  rich  and  varied  ornament;  his 
pages  glow  with  crimson,  blue,  and  gold,  his  borders  are 
filled  with  a  bewildering  wealth  of  "  humanistic  "  decora- 
tion— copies  or  imitations  of  Classical  friezes,  cameos, 
and  coins ;  arabesques,  putti,  pearls,  and  rubies ;  all 
painted  with  great  skill,  against  grounds  of  brilliant 
hues.  In  fact,  his  work  is  typical  of  Renaissance  illu- 
mination at  its  height,  with  its  florid  taste  and  dexterous 
technique. 

Many  of  Attavante's  contemporaries  are  chiefly  known 
as  illuminators  of  choir-books.  Pre-eminent  among  these 
are  Girolamo  da  Cremona  and  Liberale  da  Verona,  both 
of  whom  did  some  of  their  finest  work  of  this  kind  at 
Siena,  the  former  from  1468  to  1473,  the  latter  from  1470 
to  I476.2-  The  conventional  ornament,  in  the  books 
illuminated  by  these  two  masters,  is  often  heavy, 
commonplace,  even  perfunctory,  and  was  perhaps  done 
by  their  assistants ;  but  the  miniatures  enclosed  in  the 
large  initials  are  always  interesting  and  finely  finished, 
and  sometimes  exquisite,  e.g.  Liberale's  illustration  of  the 
parable  of  the  Labourers  in  the  Vineyard.3  A  fine  North 
Italian  choir-book,  apparently  made  for  a  church  dedi- 
cated to  SS.  Cosmas  and  Damian,  was  recently  acquired 

1  No.  9008.  See  J.  van  den  Gheyn,  Cat.  des  MSS.  de  la  Bibl.  Roy.  de 
£elgiquet  i,  1901,  pp.  277-9;  E.  Miintz,  Hist,  de  I' Art  pendant  la  Renaissance, 
ii,  1891,  p.  221,  and  in  Gazette  ArcheoL,  1883,  pp.  116-20.  For  another,  but 
inferior,  example  of  Attavante's  work,  the  Martianus  Capella  at  Venice,  see  A. 
Perini,  Facsimile  delle  miniature  di  Attavante  Florentine^  1878. 

•  Bradley,  Diet,  of  Min.  ;  Crowe  and  Cavalcaselle,  Hist,  of  Painting  in  N. 
Italy.  3  PI.  xlvi. 

297 


by  the  Society  of  Antiquaries.1  Besides  the  large  his- 
toriated  initials,  it  has  at  the  beginning  a  half-page 
miniature  of  that  favourite  episode  in  the  legend  of  the 
two  physician-saints,  the  miracle  of  the  Ethiopian's  leg. 
A  sixteenth  century  inscription,  signed  "  Prater  Jacobus 
de  Mantua,"  attributes  the  illuminations  to  Andrea 
and  Francesco  Mantegna.  This  attribution  cannot  be 
accepted,  though  it  may  indicate  a  Mantuan  origin. 
Both  borders  and  miniatures  have  a  strong  resemblance 
to  the  work  of  the  neighbouring  school  of  Ferrara  about 
1460-70. 

Most  important  of  all  the  local  schools,  perhaps,  is  the 
Milanese,2  a  superb  monument  of  which  is  preserved  at  the 
British  Museum  in  the  Sforza  Book  of  Hours.3  Executed 
for  Bona  of  Savoy,  widow  of  Galeazzo  Maria  Sforza, 
Duke  of  Milan  (d.  1476),  probably  about  1490,  this 
famous  book  seems  to  have  been  given  by  her  to  her 
daughter  Bianca  Maria,  who  married  the  Emperor  Maxi- 
milian I  in  1493;  and  thus  to  have  descended  to  Charles  V, 
who  succeeded  Maximilian  in  1519.  At  all  events,  in 
1519-20  several  pages  were  inserted  to  make  good  the 
then  imperfections  of  the  manuscript.  The  illuminations 
on  these  inserted  pages  are  Flemish,  and  will  be  noticed 
in  the  next  chapter ;  here  it  need  only  be  said  that  they 
include  a  portrait  of  Charles  V,  dated  1520.  The  imper- 
fections have  been  conjecturally  accounted  for  by  the 
supposition  that  the  book  was  originally  intended  as  a 
wedding-gift  to  Bianca  Maria  as  the  bride  of  John  Cor- 
vinus,  natural  son  of  King  Mathias,  and  that  the  pages 
which  contained  direct  allusions  to  this  abortive  marriage- 
project  were  removed  when  Bianca's  hand  was  transferred 
to  the  Emperor.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  book  is  fully 

1  New  Pal.  Soc.,  pi.  171-3. 

"2  See  G.  Mongeri,  "L'arte  del  minio  nel  ducato  dt  Milano,"  in  Archivio 
Storico  Lombardo,  1885,  pp.  330-56,  528-57,  759-96. 

3  Add.  34294.  See  PaL  Soc.,  ii,  204-5  ?  Warner,  Ilium.  MSS.,  pi.  58-9, 
Reprod.,  iii,  42-3,  and  above  all  his  fully  illustrated  monograph,  The  Sforza  Book 
of  Hours,  1894. 

298 


to  t 


PLATE  XLVI 


LIBERALE   DA  VERONA,   CIRCA   1475 

SIENA,     LIBRRRIA     PICCOLOMINI.     GRADUAL 


ith  the  d- 
unkn< 

'.  in  bane; 

means  certain,  this  "officic 
Birago  cannot  be  sii 
himself      O^ 

:iza  ap 

an  friar,  ilhii  i  for  I 

(1492-1503), 

Holy  Sp 

tho 


iiy  mi 

like  portraits  of  Lu< 
father  Francesco  S; 
far,  ho 

artists'  ident. 
If  Ambrogio  d' 
ch  Dr.  Mliller-Walde 
. 


•i(.f»A     ift 

' 
300 


1'LATK  XLVH 


SFORZA   BOOK  OF   HOURS.   MILANESE,   CIRCA   1490 
BRIT.  MIJS.,  ABD.  34294 


PLATK  XLV111 


•     ''*. 


[/VriatfHno 
anncmn  no 
_  mini:  Linen] 
Linccclcfu  ft 

mmirifnidmcp] 

on  cvnltrnnnrcgc 

fiiolPJ*iiittiirnoihl 
cms  in  clx>:o  in  nin 

p*ino:r 


SFORZA   BOOK  OF   HOURS.   MILANESE,   CIRCA   1490 

BRIT.    MUS.,    ADD.   34294 


THE    ITALIAN    RENAISSANCE 

tifully  finished.  The  Horae  is  a  much  smaller  book, 
containing  several  full-page  illuminations.  These  have 
frame-borders  of  the  amazingly  miscellaneous  character  so 
loved  by  the  late  Renaissance  illuminators  :  satyrs,  pieces 
of  armour,  birds,  nude  athletes,  scriptural  scenes,  jostling 
one  another  on  the  gilded  and  coloured  grounds.  Many 
of  the  miniatures  are  exquisitely  painted,  soft  and  delicate; 
occasionally  vigorous  too,  as  in  the  vignette  of  David 
beheading  Goliath,  which  forms  part  of  the  admirable 
frontispiece  to  the  Penitential  Psalms  (f.  Qib).  But 
Clovio's  usual  weaknesses  peep  out  continually,  especially 
in  the  larger  compositions  :  his  mawkish  sentiment,  want 
of  dignity,  and  florid  taste.  His  actual  output  does  full 
credit  to  his  industry ;  but  he  has  also  been  made  respon- 
sible for  an  immense  number  of  paintings  in  which  modern 
critics  see  rather  the  work  of  his  pupils  or  imitators. 
Such  are  the  Victories  of  Charles  V,  in  the  British 
Museum  (Add.  33733) ;  a  large  miniature  of  the  Cruci- 
fixion, in  the  Musee  Conde*  at  Chantilly :  and  a  host  of 
other  pictures.  The  Chantilly  Crucifixion  is  really  by 
Apollonio  de'  Bonfratelli,  as  appears  plainly  on  comparing 
it  with  his  signed  miniatures,  cut  out  from  a  manuscript 
executed  in  1564  for  Pope  Pius  IV,  and  preserved  in  the 
Rogers  Album  at  the  British  Museum  (Add.  21412, 
ff.  36-44) ;  especially  with  the  Crucifixion  and  Pieta 
(ff.  42,  43).  Apollonio  has  many  of  his  master's  affecta- 
tions ;  but  he  composes  in  a  larger,  freer  manner,  and 
adopts  a  deeper  and  more  brilliant  colour-scheme.  His 
conception  of  the  human  form  too  is  essentially  different; 
instead  of  Giulio's  slender  and  often  absurdly  elongated 
figures  he  prefers  a  more  robust  type,  and  gives  us 
thickset,  clumsy,  yet  vital  and  actual  men  and  women. 
He  cannot  be  called  a  great  artist,  but  his  work  is  not 
without  merit,  and  he  may  fitly  be  taken  as  the  last  repre- 
sentative of  Italian  illuminators. 


20  305 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
FLEMISH   ILLUMINATION   AFTER  1300 

THE  materials  for  the  history  of  Flemish  illumina- 
tion in  the  fourteenth  century  are  as  distressingly 
scarce  as  those  for  the  fifteenth  are  embarrassingly 
plenteous.  We  have  an  abundance  of  manuscripts  exe- 
cuted in  the  near  neighbourhood  of  the  year  1300;  some 
of  these  have  been  noticed  at  the  end  of  chapter  xi, 
notably  Stowe  17  and  the  Sneyd  MS.,  which  might 
with  equal  propriety  have  been  placed  at  the  beginning  of 
the  present  chapter.  In  all  of  them  a  close  affinity  to 
contemporary  East  Anglian  and  Northern  French  work 
is  apparent.  French  influence  predominates  in  some,  e.g. 
in  the  little  Breviary1  of  the  Dominican  convent  of  Val- 
Duchesse,  at  Auderghem  near  Brussels,  whose  miniatures, 
with  their  daintily  swaying,  white-faced  figures  painted 
against  diapered  or  burnished  gold  grounds,  and  their 
use  of  black  pen-lines  to  indicate  all  details  of  drapery 
and  features,  have  little  to  distinguish  them  from  French 
illuminations  of  the  time,  except  the  characteristic  Flemish 
dark  blue.  In  others,  it  is  the  resemblance  to  the  East 
Anglian  manuscripts,  noticed  in  chapter  xiii,  which 
catches  the  eye.  This  shows  itself  not  only  in  the  love 
for  grotesques  and  caricatures,  so  prominent  in  Stowe  17 
and  many  other  manuscripts,  such  as  Add.  30029  and 
29253,  both  from-  Blandigny  Abbey  near  Ghent,  or  the 
slightly  later  S.  Omer  Horae,  Add.  36684  (circa  1320), 
formerly  in  Ruskin's  library ;  but  also  in  the  whole 
decorative  scheme,  and  sometimes  in  the  larger  composi- 
tions. Thus  the  Crucifixion  in  a  Cambrai  Missal,2  now 

1  Brit.  Mus.,  Harl.  2449. 

2  No.  149.     See  A.  Durieux,  Les  miniatures  des  MSS.  de  la  Bibl.  de  Cambrai, 
1861,  pi.  7. 

306 


FLEMISH    ILLUMINATION    AFTER    1300 

preserved  in  the  Public  Library  of  that  place,  might 
almost  pass  as  the  work  of  the  Gorleston  or  Norwich 
school ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  about  the  ornamenta- 
tion of  the  two-volume  Bible1  in  the  same  library.  It  is 
difficult  to  fix  the  "scientific  frontier"  between  France 
and  Flanders  for  the  purposes  of  art  history.  Perhaps 
Cambrai  ought  strictly  to  be  regarded  as  French ;  un- 
doubtedly Soissons  and  Laon  must  be,  and  yet  these 
places  too  provide  examples  of  just  the  same  type  of 
miniature  and  ornament.2  South-eastwards  too  the 
influence  spread  at  any  rate  as  far  as  Treves,  where 
it  appears  plainly  in  the  border-decoration  of  a  "  Kopial- 
buch "  written  for  Archbishop  Baldwin,  now  in  the 
Archives  at  Coblenz.3 

The  difficulty  of  distinguishing  Flemish  from  French 
illumination  in  the  second  half  of  the  fourteenth  century 
is  increased  by  the  fact  that  many  of  the  best  Flemish 
miniaturists  are  known  to  have  worked  in  France,  for  the 
king  and  for  great  nobles  such  as  the  Duke  of  Berry. 
Their  work,  so  far  as  it  can  be  identified  with  any 
approach  to  certainty,  was  usually  of  a  high  order,  as  we 
saw  when  dealing  with  Andre  Beauneveu  and  Jacquemart 
de  Hesdin.4  Their  native  land  seems  to  have  been  content 
with  a  less  refined  form  of  art,  if  we  may  judge  by  such 
books  as  the  "Kuerbouc"  of  Ypres,5  dated  1363,  and 
copiously  adorned  with  marginal  figures,  almost  in- 
variably of  grotesque  character ;  or  by  the  illustrations 
of  the  "  Biblia  Pauperum"  and  "Speculum  Humanae 
Salvationis,"  most  of  which  are  worthless  artistically, 
though  of  great  interest  from  an  iconographical  point 
of  view.  The  majority  of  the  extant  manuscripts  of 

1  No.  327.     Durieux,  pi.  8. 

2  See  E.  Fleury,  Les  MSS.  £  miniatures  de  la  Bibl.  de  Soissons,  1865,  and  his 
similar  volume  for  Laon,  1863. 

3  A.  Chroust,  Mon.  Pa!.  Denkmdler  der  Schreibkunst  des  Mittt!alters,  Abth.  i. 
ser.  ii,  Lief,  vi  (1911),  Taf.  7. 

4  See  chapter  xiv. 

5  M.  Verkest,  "  La  satire  dans  le  '  Kuerbouc  '  d'Ypres,"  in  Les  Arts  ana'ens  de 
Flandre  (Bruges,  1904,  etc.),  pp.  95-107. 

307 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

these  two  closely  allied  compositions l  are  German  rather 
than  Flemish  in  origin  ;  and  many  of  them,  being  on 
paper,  do  not  come  within  the  scope  of  the  present 
volume.  One  of  the  few  exceptions  is  King's  MS.  52  in 
the  British  Museum,  a  finely  illuminated  copy  of  the 
"  Biblia  Pauperum  "  on  vellum,  executed  by  Flemish  or 
Rhenish  artists  about  the  year  1400.  As  now  bound  up, 
it  consists  of  thirty-one  long  narrow  pages,  each  page 
having  in  the  centre  a  scene  from  the  life  of  Christ, 
accompanied  by  four  half-length  figures  of  prophets 
bearing  scrolls,  and  flanked  by  two  Old  Testament  scenes 
by  which  it  is  supposed  to  have  been  foreshadowed.  The 
parallelism  is  sometimes  curiously  far-fetched,  as  when 
the  widow  of  Zarephath  gathering  sticks  is  made  to 
typify  Christ  carrying  the  cross.  But  this  manuscript 
does  not  differ  from  other  copies  of  the  work  in  the 
choice  of  subjects ;  it  is  the  finished  excellence  of  their 
treatment  which  distinguishes  it  above  its  fellows.  The 
backgrounds  of  the  pictures  are  either  gilded  or  diapered 
in  the  old  style,  the  landscape-painting  which  was  later  to 
constitute  one  of  the  chief  glories  of  Flemish  art  not 
having  yet  been  developed.  Touches  of  naive  absurdity 
still  occur  in  some  of  the  compositions,  e.g.  where 
Michal  lets  down  David  from  a  window  in  full  view  of 
Saul  ;  but  the  flat  treatment  of  the  figure  has  now  given 
way  to  careful  modelling  by  means  of  skilful  and  delicate 
gradations  of  colour.  The  range  of  colours  is  not  wide, 
but  is  generally  used  with  felicity,  a  favourite  tint  being 
a  particularly  soft  and  pleasing  violet.  In  the  faces  a 
distinct  striving  after  individual  types  is  noticeable, 
especially  in  the  grave,  intensely  pathetic  Christ. 

Among  the  earliest  attempts  to  represent  the  figures 
in  their  natural  setting,  instead  of  placing  them  against 
a  conventional  background,  is  a  series  of  twenty-eight 

1  For  their  bibliography,  etc.,  see  W.  L.  Schreiber,  Biblia  Pauperum,  1903 ; 
.  Lutz  and  P.  Perdrizet,  Speculum  Humanae  Salvationis,  1907-9. 

2  Fully   described,   with   illustrations,   by   Sir  E.  M.  Thompson  in   Biblio- 
graphica,  Hi,  1897,  pp.  385-406. 

308 


PLATE  XL1X 


MANDEVILLE'S  TRAVELS.  FLEMISH,   EARLY   XVxH  CENT 
BRIT.  MUS.,  ABU.  24189 


FLEMISH    ILLUMINATION   AFTER    1300 

Flemish  art  in  general  throughout  this  period — the  time 
of  the  great  masters  of  early  Flemish  painting,  from  the 
Van  Eycks  to  Gerard  David,  Quentin  Metsys,  and  Mabuse 
— for  methods  peculiarly  appropriate  to  miniature.  Indeed, 
David  is  known  to  have  painted  miniatures  as  well  as 
panels  j1  and  there  is  no  antecedent  improbability  in  the 
supposition  that  Memlinc  did  so  too,  though  the  many 
attributions  of  miniatures  to  him  are  quite  unsupported 
by  evidence.  It  is  probably  safer,  however,  to  assign  the 
resemblance  to  his  work,  often  noticed  in  illuminations  of 
the  late  fifteenth  and  early  sixteenth  centuries,  to  direct 
imitation.  Most  of  these  illuminations  were  done  at 
Bruges,  the  scene  of  Memlinc's  career  as  a  great  painter, 
and  also  the  home  of  a  flourishing  guild  of  illuminators, 
whose  chapel  was  presented  in  1478  with  an  altar-piece 
painted  by  him  for  Willem  Vrelant,  a  distinguished 
member  of  the  guild.2  What,  then,  is  more  likely  than 
that  younger  members  should  have  sought  inspiration 
for  their  miniatures  in  Memlinc's  panels,  aptly  suited  as 
these  were  in  so  many  ways  to  their  special  needs  ? 

Among  the  many  illuminators  who  are  known  to  have 
worked  for,  or  in  the  time  of,  Philip  the  Good,  Duke  of 
Burgundy  (1419-67),  and  his  successor,  Charles  the 
Bold  (1467-77),  Willem  Vrelant  is  one  of  the  few  whose 
names  are  definitely  associated  with  extant  manuscripts. 
From  1454  until  his  death  in  1480-1  his  name  occurs  in 
the  accounts  of  the  illuminators'  guild  at  Bruges  ;  but  the 
only  certain  examples  of  his  work  are  the  miniatures  in 
vol.  ii  of  the  "  Histoire  du  Haynaut "  (Brussels,  Bibl. 
Roy.,  9242-4),  for  which  he  was  paid  in  1467-8  ;  and  even 
these  cannot  all  be  assigned  with  confidence  to  his  hand, 
though  doubtless  all  were  painted  under  his  direction. 
Taking  these  as  basis,  critics  have  been  led  to  attribute 
many  other  fine  miniatures  to  his  school,  notably  those 

1  See  W.  H.  J.  Weale,  Gerard  David,  1895,  p.  47  ;  also  his  chapter  on  "The 
Miniature  Painters  and  Illuminators  of  Bruges,  1457-1523,"  in  The  Hours  of  Albert 
of  JBrandenburg,  ed.  F.  S.  Ellis  [1883],  pp.  9-16. 

2  Weale,  Hans  Memlinc,  11,07,  pp.  10,  20-3. 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 

in  the  "Chroniques  de  Jherusalem"  and  the  romance  of 
Girard  de  Roussillon  at  Vienna,  both  executed  for  Philip 
the  Good  about  1450  j1  and  the  "  Histoire  du  bon  roi 
Alexandre  "  in  the  Dutuit  Collection  at  Paris.2  M.  Durrieu 
also  sees  his  hand  in  the  Breviary  of  Philip  the  Good 
(Brussels,  9511,  9026) ;  but  the  illuminations  in  this  book 
are  of  a  less  finished  character,  and  are  probably  to  be 
referred  to  a  somewhat  earlier  date,  though  they  may 
conceivably  have  been  done  in  the  atelier  where  Vrelant 
learnt  his  craft.3  The  other  manuscripts  prove  him  and 
his  assistants  to  have  thoroughly  mastered  the  art  of 
depicting  the  operations  of  war :  in  the  representation  of 
beleaguered  cities  especially  they  excelled,  showing  the 
scaling-ladders,  catapults,  and  other  siege  engines  in  full 
detail,  and  combining  the  realistic  and  the  picturesque 
with  great  success.  There  is  a  certain  stiffness  and 
artificiality  about  the  grouping  and  posing  of  figures, 
both  in  battle-scenes  and  in  other  pictures  :  but  the  land- 
scape-painting has  now  reached  a  pitch  of  excellence  not 
surpassed  until  the  beginning  of  the  next  century,  com- 
bining softness,  sense  of  distance,  and  atmosphere,  with  a 
marvellous  rendering  of  detail. 

Other  miniaturists  of  the  same  period,  and  more  or 
less  of  the  same  school,  are  Jean  le  Tavernier  of 
Oudenarde,  who  illustrated  the  "  Conquetes  de  Charle- 
magne" (Brussels,  9o66-8)4  in  1458  for  Philip  the  Good  ; 
and  Loyset  Liddet,  who  worked  at  Hesdin  and  Bruges 
from  1460  to  1478,  becoming  a  member  of  the  guild  of 
illuminators  at  the  latter  place  in  1469.  Several  of 
Lie"det's  \vorks  are  extant,  at  Brussels,  Paris,  and  else- 
where. His  illustrations  to  the  "  Histoire  de  Charles 
Martel"  (Brussels,  6-9),  made  in  1463-5  for  Philip  the 

1  See  A.  Schestag,  "  Die  Chronik  von  Jerusalem,"  in  the  Vienna_/«/Ww/&,  xx» 
1899,  pp.  195-216. 

2  Durrieu,  "  L'histoire  du  bon  roi  Alexandre  "  in  Rev.  de  Fart  anc.  et  mod.,  xiii, 
1903,  pp.  49-64,  103-21;  F.  de  Mely,  "  Les  signatures  des  primitifs,"  in  Gaz. 
des  Beaux- Arts,  1910,  ii,  pp.  173-94. 

3  See  J.  van  den  Gheyn,  Le  Breviaire  de  Philippe  le  Bon,  1909. 
*  New  Pal  Soc.,  pi.  44. 

312 


FLEMISH    ILLUMINATION   AFTER    1300 

Good,  have  been  published,1  and  show  him  to  have  been, 
if  not  a  great  or  original  artist,  at  least  a  highly  accom- 
plished craftsman.  Another  great  name  is  that  of  Simon 
Marmion  of  Valenciennes,  called  "prince  d'enlumineure" 
by  a  contemporary  poet  ;2  and  fitly,  if  the  splendid 
miniatures  of  the  Grandes  Chroniques  at  St.  Peters- 
burg,3 painted  for  Philip  the  Good  about  1456,  are 
actually,  as  M.  Reinach  supposes,  the  work  of  him  and 
his  assistants.  The  best  of  these  are  unquestionably  by 
a  great  master,  who  rivalled  Jean  Fouquet  in  his  power 
of  giving  individuality  and  character  to  the  personages  of 
a  group.* 

Besides  fully  illuminated  pictures,  this  period  has 
bequeathed  to  us  many  fine  examples  of  painting  en 
grisaille.  Among  the  most  perfect  are  the  illustrations 
to  the  two  volumes  of  Mielot's  Miracles  de  Nostre 
Dame  at  Paris.5  The  first  volume  was  completed  at  the 
Hague  in  1456 ;  the  second  is  evidently  somewhat  later, 
and  represents  a  more  advanced  stage  of  the  art :  archi- 
tecture, landscape,  and  figure-composition  being  all  handled 
with  the  utmost  delicacy  and  finish.  A  replica  of  vol.  ii, 
as  regards  text  and  subjects,  made  apparently  about  the 
beginning  of  Charles  the  Bold's  reign,  is  in  the  Bodleian.6 
Its  seventy  miniatures,  in  bluish  grey  shaded  from  white 
to  nearly  black,  are  spirited,  humorous,  and  quaintly  ex- 
pressive, but  are  not  to  be  compared  for  artistic  merit  with 
those  of  the  Paris  counterpart. 

The  alliance  between  Edward  IV  and  Charles  the 
Bold,  consolidated  by  the  marriage  of  Charles  with 
Edward's  sister  Margaret  in  1468,  was  followed  by  a 

1  Hisioirede  Charles  Martel,  ed.  J.  van  den  Gheyn,  1910. 

2  See  E.  Gilliat-Smith,  The  Story  of  Bruges,  1909,  p.  372. 

3  S.  Reinach,  Un  MS.  de  la  Bibl.  de  Philippe  le  Bon  a  St.  Petersbourg  (Fond. 
E.  Piot,  Mon.  et  Mem.,  vol.  xi),  1904. 

4  See  especially  pi.  i,  the  dedication-picture. 

5  Bibl.  Nat.,  fr.  9198-9.     Published  in  facsimile,   slightly  reduced,   by  H 
O[mont],  Miracles  de  Notre  Dame  [1906]. 

6  Douce  374,  reproduced  for  the  Roxburghe  Club,  Miracles  de  Nostre  Dame, 
ed.  G.  F.  Warner,  1885. 

313 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

corresponding  change  in  English  taste ;  and  French 
illumination  began  to  be  supplanted  by  Flemish  in  the 
esteem  of  the  nobility  of  this  country.  The  king  himself 
led  the  fashion,  adding  to  his  library  a  large  collection  of 
huge  tomes  written  and  illuminated  in  the  Low  Countries, 
especially  at  Bruges  and  Ghent.  One  of  these,  a  Josephus, 
is  in  the  Soane  Museum  ;  but  the  great  majority  are  now 
in  the  British  Museum,  having  been  transferred  thither 
with  the  rest  of  the  old  Royal  Library.1  They  consist 
mainly  of  copies  of  the  Bible  Historiale  and  of  histories, 
romances,  and  philosophical  works  in  French.  None  of 
them  can  be  called  quite  first-class  in  point  of  artistic 
merit,  but  they  serve  as  useful  examples  of  the  style  most 
in  vogue  towards  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The 
miniatures,  filling  half  the  page  or  more,  are  very  large, 
and  their  technique  resembles  that  of  scene-painting ; 
looked  at  from  a  distance  they  are  effective  and  not 
unpleasing,  but  a  close  inspection  reveals  in  many  cases 
an  almost  repulsive  coarseness  of  execution.  Among  the 
best  are  those  in  18  E.  iii  and  iv  (Valerius  Maximus, 
dated  1479),  15  E.  ii  and  iii  (Livre  des  proprie'te'z  des 
choses,  written  at  Bruges  in  I482),2  and  19  E.  v  (Romu- 
leon,  a  compilation  of  Roman  history).  16  G.  iii  (Vita 
Christi,  written  by  D.  Aubert  at  Ghent  in  1479)  may  also 
be  mentioned  in  connection  with  these  manuscripts,  though 
its  miniatures  are  on  a  much  smaller  scale  ;  they  are 
attributed  by  M.  Durrieu3  to  Alexander  Bennink,  and  are 
certainly  by  an  artist  of  some  distinction  and  individuality. 
The  borders  in  these  books  are  practically  always  of  the 
same  type,  consisting  of  a  scroll  of  conventional  foliage, 
mixed  with  sprays  of  leaves,  fruit,  and  flowers  treated 
more  naturalistically,  and  sometimes  varied  by  the  intro- 
duction of  angels,  birds,  or  insects  ;  the  ground  of  the 
border-frame  is  usually  left  white,  but  is  occasionally 
covered  with  a  thin  wash  of  colour. 

1  A  few  specimens  are  exhibited  in  the  Saloon  and  the  Grenville  Room.    See 
Guide,  1906,  pp.  82,  140-1. 

2  Warner,  Reprod.,  i,  38.  3  Gaz.  des  Beaux- Arts,  1891,  i,  p.  364. 

314 


FLEMISH    ILLUMINATION    AFTER   1300 

Towards  the  end  of  the  century  the  demand  for  these 
colossal  tomes  declined ;  and  Flemish  illumination  in  its 
last  and  most  attractive  phase,  from  about  1490  to  1530, 
is  found  mainly  in  devotional  books  intended  for  private 
use — or  private  enjoyment,  it  would  perhaps  be  more 
correct  to  say — especially  Breviaries  and  Books  of  Hours. 
In  technical  skill  the  best  miniaturists  had  now  reached 
the  utmost  heights  attainable  in  the  art,  and  their  render- 
ing of  landscape  leaves  little  to  be  desired  by  the  most 
exacting  critics  ;  while  their  close  relations  with  the  great 
painters  saved  them  from  the  decadence  into  which  their 
French  and  Italian  fellow-craftsmen  fell,  and  gave  their 
compositions  something  of  the  sincerity  and  homely 
simplicity,  combined  with  dignity  and  intense  spirituality, 
which  give  such  character  to  the  masterpieces  of  Memlinc 
and  his  contemporaries.  The  development  of  border- 
decoration  was  less  satisfactory.  The  continuous  scrolls 
of  conventional  foliage,  painted  on  the  plain  margins  of 
the  vellum  page,  had  served  their  turn,  and  a  new  style 
of  border  came  into  fashion.  This,  though  more  in 
harmony  with  the  passionate  fidelity  to  nature  which 
inspired  the  landscape  and  genre  painting  of  the  minia- 
tures, cannot  be  called  an  entire  success  as  a  decorative 
scheme ;  it  has  even  been  compared,  flippantly  yet  not 
inaptly,  to  a  modern  seedsman's  illustrated  catalogue. 
The  miniature-pages  are  now  framed  in  broad  rectangular 
bands  of  dead  gold,  or  less  commonly  of  pale  grey,  purple, 
or  other  monochrome ;  and  these  bands  are  covered  with 
flowers  (singly  or  in  short  sprays),  fruits,  birds,  snails, 
butterflies,  bees,  and  other  insects,  painted  with  con- 
summate skill  and  most  scrupulous  accuracy.  Each  in 
itself  is  delightful,  but  as  an  ensemble  the  scheme  is  some- 
what incoherent  and  unmeaning,  and  tends  rather  to 
distract  attention  from  the  picture,  instead  of  forming  an 
appropriate  setting  for  it.  Despite  these  strictures,  how- 
ever, one  cannot  refuse  a  tribute  of  admiration  to  these 
illustrations  from  natural  history.  The  objects  selected 
are  beautiful  in  themselves  (carnations,  pansies,  corn- 

315 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

flowers,  and  columbines  are  the  favourite  flowers,  wild 
strawberries  the  favourite  fruit),  and  colour  and  form  alike 
are  reproduced  almost  faultlessly  ;  the  illusion  of  solidity 
is  enhanced  by  the  device  of  making  the  objects  cast 
shadows  on  the  background,  as  though  slightly  raised 
above  it. 

Good  examples  of  these  naturalistic  borders  may  be 
seen  in  Add.  25698  at  the  British  Museum,  an  interest- 
ing fragment  consisting  of  eleven  leaves  from  a  prayer- 
book  of  unknown  origin,  but  apparently  made  about 
1492-3  and  connected  with  the  military  order  of  S. 
George  (founded  by  the  Emperor  Frederick  III  in  1469, 
and  extended  by  his  successor  Maximilian),  and  with 
a  project  of  Maximilian's,  in  which  that  order  was  meant 
to  play  an  important  part,  for  an  international  crusade 
against  the  Turks.  This  seems  plainly  alluded  to  on 
f.  3,  where  Frederick  and  Maximilian,  with  the  Kings  of 
England,  France,  and  Spain,  and  the  Archduke  Philip  of 
Austria,  are  kneeling  before  the  altar  of  S.  George  j1  and 
on  f.  n,  an  anticipatory  picture  of  the  knights  of  the 
order  defeating  the  Turks  in  battle.  Other  miniatures, 
similar  in  plan  to  that  on  f.  3,  show  the  Pope  and  prelates 
invoking  S.  Peter  (f.  4),  monks  and  friars  invoking  the 
Holy  Ghost  (f.  10),  and  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  the 
laity  invoking  Christ  (f.  8) — all,  probably,  with  the  same 
object  of  ensuring  victory  against  the  Turk.  On  another 
page  (f.  5)  we  see  the  deathbed  of  some  great  lady,  whose 
name  apparently  began  with  M  : 2  a  friar  holds  a  crucifix 
before  her  eyes,  and  props  up  the  candle  in  her  feeble 
hands,  while  Michael  and  the  devil  fight  for  her  soul, 
and  she  is  cheered  by  a  vision  of  the  Virgin  and  Child  ; 
the  picture  is  completed  by  two  clerics  praying  by  the 
bedside,  and  a  richly  dressed  indifferent  group  chatting 
near  the  door.  Another  subject  (f.  9)  is  the  Lenten 

1  Warner,  Reprod^  ii,  37. 

2  One  is  tempted  to  identify  her  with  Mary  of  Burgundy  (d.  1482),  or  with 
Margaret  of  York,  widow  of  Charles  the  Bold  (d.   1503);  but  there  are  chrono- 
logical or  other  objections  to  either  conjecture. 

316 


PLATE  L 


tvHOitctnnttc  taur 


LEAF  FROM  A  BOOK  OF  HOURS,  FLEMISH,  CIRCA  1492 

BRIT.    MUS.,    ADD.   25698 


FLEMISH    ILLUMINATION    AFTER    1300 

cernible.  The  borders  are  of  three  kinds  :  ist,  the  nearly 
obsolete  Franco- Flemish  scroll-work ;  2nd,  the  natural- 
istic style  described  above  ;  3rd,  striped  repeat-patterns, 
apparently  copied  from  brocaded  stuffs.  This  last  style 
occurs  also,  it  may  be  noted,  on  some  of  the  pages  of  an 
interesting  little  Book  of  Hours1  of  the  same  period, 
which  contains  portraits  of  Isabella's  daughter  Joan  and 
the  latter's  husband  PhiliotJie__Fair.  The  Calendar- 
illustrations  in  the  I  sabellaBook  are  of  a  type  often 
followed  about  this  time.  There  are  no  separate  minia- 
tures, but  the  whole  text  for  each  month  is  inlaid,  as  it 
were,  in  a  picture  of  an  appropriate  occupation.  One  of 
the  subjects  newly  introduced  into  the  cycle  is  worth 
noting,  for  it  forms  a  striking  feature  in  the  Calendar- 
pictures  produced  by  the  Bruges  miniaturists  during  the 
next  decade  or  two :  for  May,  a  boating  pleasure-party  on 
a  river. 

Still  more  famous  is  the  Grimani  Breviary,  preserved 
in  S.  Mark's  Library  at  Venice.2  Many  conflicting  and 
misleading  statements  have  been  published  by  various  ill- 
informed  writers  concerning  the  age  of  this  book,  the 
names  of  its  illuminators,  and  even  its  actual  contents. 
For  the  last  kind  of  misstatement  the  facsimile  repro- 
duction, with  Dr.  Coggiola's  detailed  description,  leaves 
now  no  shred  of  excuse.  In  the  absence  of  documentary 
evidence,  critics  will  always  claim  freedom  to  attribute  the 
miniatures  according  to  their  several  tastes;  but  one  may 
perhaps  venture  to  deprecate  the  repeated  and  confident 
attributions  of  particular  miniatures  to  Memlinc,3  who 
probably  had  no  hand  in  the  work  at  all.  As  to  the  date, 
a  terminus  ad  quern  is  furnished  by  Cardinal  Domenico 

1  Add  17280.  See  Warner,  Reprod.,  i,  37.  In  Add.  18852  the  Museum  possesses 
another  book  associated  with  the  unfortunate  Joan  :  an  exquisite  little  Horae  with 
many  charming  miniatures,  containing  her  portrait  on  ff.  26  and  288. 

2  See  F.  Zanotto,  Facsimile  delle  miniature  contenute  ml  Breviario  Grimani, 
1862;  F.  Ongania,  A  Glance  at  the  Grimani  Breviary,  1903;  and  the  complete 
reproduction,  largely  in  colour,  edited  by  S.  Morpurgo  and  S.  de  Vries,  with  intro- 
duction by  G.  Coggiola,  Le  Brlviaire  Grimani,  1904-10.      A  succinct  but  useful 
account  of  the  manuscript,  with  illustrations,  is  in  Weale's  G.  David,  pp.  55-68. 

3  As  in  Ongania's  publication,  passim, 

319 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

Grimani's  mention  of  the  book  in  his  first  will,  dated 
5  October,  1520.  He  had  bought  it  from  Antonio 
Siciliano ;  farther  back  its  history  has  not  been  carried. 
The  text  of  the  Calendar,  however,  shows  plainly  that  it 
was  intended  for  the  Italian  market  (whether  actually 
written  in  Italy  or  not),  and  that  it  was  certainly  not 
begun  before  1481,  probably  not  before  1490.  The 
advanced  technique,  especially  in  the  handling  of  trees, 
suggests  a  still  later  date,  say  about  1510.  Splendid 
monument  as  it  is  of  the  illuminator's  art,  its  pre- 
eminence in  fame  above  all  its  contemporaries  is  due  to 
the  extent  of  its  decorations  rather  than  to  their  intrinsic 
superiority  in  point  of  beauty.  With  its  831  leaves  of 
ample  size,  containing  forty-nine  full-page  miniatures, 
besides  the  Calendar-pictures  and  minor  decorations,  it 
stands  almost  alone  in  its  class.  The  twelve  full-page 
miniatures  which  illustrate  the  Calendar  agree  most 
remarkably  with  the  corresponding  series  in  the  "Tres 
Riches  Heures,"  not  only  in  subject  and  main  outlines  of 
composition,  but  in  such  details  as  the  device  of  the  Sun- 
God  in  his  chariot,  set  in  a  semicircle  at  the  top  of  each 
page;  even  the  backgrounds  are  reminiscent  of  the  earlier 
work,  though  no  longer  containing  precise  representations 
of  the  Duke  of  Berry's  castles.  In  short,  there  is  no  room 
for  doubt  as  to  the  parentage  of  these  designs  ;  and  it 
must  be  admitted  that  they  suffer  badly  by  comparison 
with  the  originals — one  seeks  here  vainly  for  the  exquisite 
dainty  grace  of  the  Limbourg  brothers'  painting.  The 
Adoration  of  the  Magi,  again,  is  almost  identical  with 
that  in  the  Isabella  Book ;  but  here  it  is  not  easy  to  say 
which  is  the  original — if  either,  for  very  likely  both  are 
derived  from  some  lost  panel,  perhaps  by  David,  some  of 
whose  pictures  are  known  to  have  inspired  the  artists  of 
the  Grimani  Breviary.  Other  compositions  also  occur 
in  a  Book  of  Hours,  now  in  the  British  Museum,1  which 

1  Add.  35313.  See  Warner,  Reprod.,  ii,  36.  A  possible  allusion  to  the  death 
of  Mary  of  Burgundy  (1482)  has  been  seen  in  the  design  prefixed  to  Vigils  of  the 
Dead,  three  skeletons  with  darts  attacking  a  lady  in  the  hunting-field. 

320 


FLEMISH    ILLUMINATION  AFTER   1300 

is  probably  of  somewhat  earlier  date,  and  certainly  of 
greatly  inferior  execution :  notably  the  Annunciation, 
Nativity,  and  Augustus  with  the  Sibyl.  Originality  of 
design,  however,  is  the  last  thing  to  be  expected  of  a 
miniaturist  at  this  period,  with  a  few  rare  exceptions.  As 
to  execution,  the  various  styles  discernible  in  the  Grimani 
Breviary  differ  widely,  from  the  comparative  coarseness 
of  some  of  the  Calendar-scenes  to  the  charming  softness 
of  the  picture  of  S.  Mary  Magdalene.  The  book  is,  in 
fact,  not  one  work  of  art  but  many — a  gallery  of  little 
masters.  Of  the  cognate  manuscripts,  those  best  worth 
notice  are  Mr.  Pierpont  Morgan's  Breviary ; *  the  Hours 
of  Albert  of  Brandenburg ; 2  three  manuscripts  at  Munich  ;3 
and  Maximilian's  Prayer-book*  and  the  Hortulus  Ani- 
mae 5  at  Vienna. 

The  Flemish  additions  to  the  Sforza  Book6  were  made 
during  the  years  1519-21,  by  artists  working  for  the 
Emperor  Charles  V,  whose  portrait,  with  date  1520,  is  on 
one  of  the  pages,  painted  in  gold  within  a  medallion. 
The  border-decoration  of  this  page  (the  first  of  the  Peni- 
tential Psalms)  is  a  close  imitation  of  the  work  of  the 
original  Milanese  artists.  But  the  sixteen  inserted  full- 
page  miniatures  are  thoroughly  Flemish  in  conception, 
design,  and  colouring,  and  are  among  the  finest  extant 
examples  of  the  school.  Differences  of  style  suggest  that 
more  than  one  artist  was  employed ;  but  an  exceedingly 
high  level  of  merit  is  maintained  throughout,  and  it  is 
difficult  to  make  a  selection.  Especially  striking  are  the 
Adoration  of  the  Magi  and  the  Presentation,  with  their 
masterly  portraiture,  simple  yet  effective  grouping,  and 
skilful,  characteristically  minute  and  careful  treatment  of 
architecture  and  costume ;  the  "  O  intemerata,"  with  its 

1  See  Burl.  Mag.,  Mar.  1907,  pp.  400-5. 

2  Ed.  F.  S.  Ellis  [1883], 

3  See  Kobell,  pp.  90-1. 

4  See  Vienna  Jahrbuch,  vii,  pp.  201-6. 

5  Ibid.,  ix,  pp.  429-45  ;  Hortulus  Animae,  facsimile  reproductions  (partly  in 
colour),  1907,  etc. 

8  See  above,  p.  298. 

21  321 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

placid,  dreamy  Madonna  and  the  delightful  group  of 
angel-musicians  ;  and  loveliest  of  all,  perhaps,  the  "  Salve 
Regina,"  with  its  beautiful  soft  colouring  and  large, 
gracious  manner. 

Finally,  a  group  of  manuscripts  must  be  mentioned 
whose  most  complete  representatives  are  the  Hennessy 
Hours1  at  Brussels  and  the  "  Golf  Book  "2  in  the  British 
Museum.  It  is  clear  that  they  all  emanate  from  the  same 
school ;  and  the  resemblance  of  the  Calvary  in  the  Hen- 
nessy Hours  to  that  painted  in  1530  by  Simon  Bennink, 
eldest  son  of  Alexander,  in  a  Missal  at  Dixmude3  has  led 
to  the  association  of  his  name  with  the  whole  group. 
The  Hennessy  Hours  contains  twenty-seven  full-page 
miniatures,  including  a  full  Calendar  series,  portraits  of 
the  Evangelists,  scenes  of  the  Passion,  and  other  subjects; 
besides  many  pages  with  interesting  marginal  decoration. 
The  "  Golf  Book "  is  more  fragmentary ;  it  consists  of 
thirty  leaves,  and  has  only  twenty-one  full-page  miniatures, 
viz.  S.  Boniface,  eight  Passion  scenes,  and  a  Calendar 
series.  The  kinship  between  these  two  books  is  obvious, 
especially  in  the  Passion  pictures,  many  of  which  are 
identical  in  almost  every  detail  (including  the  Calvary,  a 
subject  whose  pathos  is  rendered  with  wonderful  intensity). 
The  Calendar  subjects  do  not  always  agree,  though  the  style 
is  always  similar;  but  when  the  two  manuscripts  have  the 
same  subject,  as  in  the  delightful  May  scene4  of  a  boating- 
party  passing  one  of  the  gates  of  Bruges,  the  June  tourna- 
ment, or  the  exquisitely  homely  August  picture  of  the 
harvest-labourers  taking  their  midday  meal  in  the  corn- 
field, the  agreement  is  as  close  as  in  the  Passion  series. 
The  same,  or  very  nearly  the  same,  cycle  of  subjects 
occurs  in  many  other  Flemish  manuscripts  of  this  period, 

1  J.  Destree,  Les  Heures  de  N.  D.  dites  de  Hennessy,  1895  ;  Muste  des  Enlu- 
minures,  fasc.  4-6. 

2  Add.  24098.     See  Pal.  Soc.,  ii,  135-6;  Warner,  Reprod.,  iii,  49. 

8  Reproduced  in  Burl.  Mag.,  Feb.  1906,  p.  357,  illustrating  an  article  by 
Mr.  Weale,  whose  researches  prove  that  Simon  Bennink  was  born  at  Ghent  in 
1483-4,  went  to  Bruges  in  1508,  settled  there  permanently  in  1517,  and  died 
in  1561.  4  PI.  li. 

322 


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HORAE  ("GOLF  BOOK'V-  FLEMISH,  EARLY  XVlTH  CENT. 

BRIT.    MIIS.    ADD.   24098 


LITURGICAL    MANUSCRIPTS 

Church,  but  it  comprises  those  in  which  illuminations  are 
most  commonly  found.  As  to  date,  the  manuscripts  range, 
roughly  speaking,  from  the  eleventh  century  to  the  six- 
teenth ;  but  illuminated  Breviaries  and  Books  of  Hours 
of  earlier  date  than  the  latter  part  of  the  thirteenth  century 
are,  to  say  the  least,  extremely  rare ;  and  so  are  Psalters 
of  later  date  than  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth.  The 
Calendar  of  festivals,  which  forms  an  integral  part  of  most 
of  these  books,  often  contains  entries  which  give  valuable 
indications  of  date  and  provenance ;  but  great  care  must 
be  taken  to  ascertain  whether  they  are  in  the  original  hand 
or  later  additions,  and  not  to  infer  more  from  them  than 
is  warranted.  It  is  not  always  safe,  for  instance,  to  take 
the  presence  of  a  saint's  name  as  proof  of  a  date  subse- 
quent to  his  canonization.1 

The  Missal,  or  Mass-book,  is  the  book  used  by  the 
celebrating  priest  at  the  altar,  and  corresponds  in  large 
measure  to  the  earlier  Sacramentary.  Its  normal  con- 
tents are  :  (i)  Calendar.  (2)  Temporale,  or  Proper  of  Time, 
containing  the  variable  parts  (introit,  collect,  epistle, 
gradual,  gospel,  offertory,  secret  and  post-communion)  of 
the  Mass  for  every  Sunday  and  week-day  throughout 
the  year,  beginning  with  the  first  Sunday  in  Advent. 
This  is  sometimes  headed  "  Incipit  ordo  missalis  secun- 
dum  consuetudinem  ecclesie  Sarum  "  (or  whatever  the 
special  use  may  be),  but  more  often  simply  "  Dom.  i.  in 
aduentu  Domini.  Ad  missam  officium  "  (or  "  introitus  "). 
(3)  Ordinary  (unchanging  introductory  part,  including  the 
Gloria  and  Credo),  Prefaces  for  various  days  (always 
beginning  "  Vere  dignum  et  justum  est,"  and  often  set  to 
music),  and  Canon  of  the  Mass.  These  are  usually 
placed  in  the  middle  of  the  Temporale,  just  before  Easter. 
The  Canon  is  the  most  solemn  part  of  the  Mass,  includ- 
ing the  consecration.  It  begins  with  the  prayer  "Te 
igitur,  clementissime  Pater,"  and  is  almost  always 
immediately  preceded  by  a  full-page  miniature  of  the 

1  S.  Anselm  (d.  1109)  was  not  canonized  until  1494,  but  his  name  occurs  in 
English  Calendars  written  centuries  earlier. 

325 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

Crucifixion.  (4)  Sanctorale,  or  Proper  of  Saints :  the 
introits,  collects,  etc.,  for  saints'  days  throughout  the  year, 
generally  beginning  with  S.  Andrew  (Nov.  30).  (5) 
Common  of  Saints  :  introits,  etc.,  for  saints  not  individu 
ally  provided  for,  e.g.  for  one  apostle,  for  many  martyrs, 
etc.  (6)  Votive  Masses,  for  special  occasions ;  followed 
by  various  prayers,  and  sometimes  by  the  services  form- 
ing what  is  commonly  called  the  Manual,  viz.  Baptism, 
Marriage,  Visitation  of  the  Sick,  Burial,  etc. 

As  a  general  rule,  the  Missal  has  but  little  illumina- 
tion beyond  the  Crucifixion-picture  at  the  Canon  ;  and 
that  little  is  confined  to  historiated  initials  at  the  principal 
divisions.  A  favourite  subject  is  the  priest  lifting  up  his 
soul  to  God,  illustrating  the  first  introit  of  the  Temporale, 
"Ad  te  levavi  animam  meam."  A  few  magnificently 
decorated  Missals  do  exist ;  but  they  are  quite  exceptional, 
and  were  probably  never  intended  for  actual  use. 

The  Breviary  contains  the  office,  i.e.  the  services  to  be 
said  or  sung  every  day  by  the  clergy  at  the  canonical  hours 
(Matins,  Lauds,  Prime,  Tierce,  Sext,  None,  Vespers, 
Compline).  These  services  consist  mainly  of  psalms, 
interspersed  with  antiphons,  verses,  and  responses,  to- 
gether with  a  few  hymns  and  prayers.  At  matins  there 
are  also  three,  nine  or  twelve  lessons,  taken  from  Scrip- 
ture, patristic  homilies,  or  lives  of  saints  :  three  lessons 
on  minor  festivals,  nine  on  major  (except  in  monasteries 
of  the  Benedictine  Order  and  its  off-shoots,  which  have 
twelve).  The  normal  arrangement  is  as  follows : — (i) 
Calendar;  (2)  Psalter;  (3)  Temporale,  beginning  at  Ad- 
vent, as  in  the  Missal ;  (4)  Sanctorale ;  (5)  Common  of 
Saints  ;  (6)  Hours  of  the  Virgin,  Office  of  the  Dead,  and 
other  special  services.  Finely  illuminated  Breviaries  are 
not  common,  the  book  being  as  a  rule  required  for  con- 
stant practical  use.  The  nature  of  its  contents,  however, 
provides  unlimited  opportunities  for  illustration ;  and 
these  are  freely  used  in  such  manuscripts  as  the  Breviary 
of  John  the  Fearless,  the  Isabella  Book,  and  the  Grimani 
Breviary. 
326 


LITURGICAL    MANUSCRIPTS 

The  Psalter  contains  the  150  Psalms,  usually  pre- 
ceded by  a  Calendar  and  followed  by  the  Te  Deum  and 
other  Canticles,  a  Litany  of  Saints,  and  prayers ;  often 
too  by  Vigils  of  the  Dead.  Illuminated  Psalters  occur 
as  early  as  the  eighth  century,  and  from  the  eleventh  to 
the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  they  form  by  far  the  most 
numerous  class  of  illuminated  manuscripts.  Several 
pages  at  the  beginning  are  filled  in  some  copies,  especially 
in  the  thirteenth  century,  with  scenes  from  the  life  of 
Christ.  The  initial  "B"  of  Psalm  i  is  always  lavishly 
decorated,  and  so  are  the  initial  letters  of  the  principal 
divisions  of  the  Psalter.  These  divisions  vary  with 
country  and  date ;  in  the  majority  of  thirteenth  and  four- 
teenth century  manuscripts  they  occur  at  Psalms  xxvi 
("  Dominus  illuminatio  mea,"  usually  illustrated  by  a 
miniature  of  David  looking  up  to  God  and  pointing  to 
his  eyes,  enclosed  within  the  "  D"),  xxxviii  ("  Dixi  custo- 
diam";  David  pointing  to  his  lips),  Hi  ("  Dixit  insipiens"; 
a  fool  with  club  and  ball,  either  alone  or  before  King 
David),  Ixviii  ("Salvum  me  fac"  ;  David  up  to  his  waist 
in  water,  appealing  to  God  for  help  ;  or  sometimes  Jonah 
and  the  whale),  Ixxx  ("  Exultate  Deo";  David  playing  on 
bells),  xcvii  ("  Cantate  Domino " ;  choristers  singing), 
cix  ("Dixit  Dominus";  the  Father  and  Son  enthroned, 
the  Dove  hovering  between  them).  The  more  sumptuous 
copies  have  a  great  wealth  of  additional  illustration,  from 
scriptural,  hagiographical,  and  other  sources. 

Graduals  and  Antiphoners,  classed  together  as  Libri 
Corali  by  Italian  bibliographers,  contain  the  choral  parts 
of  the  Mass  and  Office  respectively.  Thus  the  Gradual 
answers  to  the  Missal,  the  Antiphoner  to  the  Breviary. 
The  former  derives  its  name  from  the  Gradual  in  the 
Mass,  a  short  passage  from  the  Psalms  to  be  said  or  sung 
immediately  after  the  Epistle ;  the  latter  from  the  anti- 
phons  which  make  up  a  large  part  of  its  contents.  They 
are  enormous  volumes,  having  the  text  with  full  musical 
setting,  and  being  designed  each  to  serve  for  several 
choristers.  They  have  no  full-page  miniatures,  but  their 

327 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 

principal  initials  enclose  pictures  as  large  as  the  page  of 
an  average-sized  book.  The  finest  are  of  the  fourteenth 
and  fifteenth  centuries,  and  were  produced  in  Italy. 

The  Book  of  Hours  is  hardly  liturgical  in  the  strictest 
sense,  being  intended  for  private  devotional  use,  and 
usually  containing  some  non-liturgical  matter.  But  it 
would  be  absurd  to  omit  it  from  this  list,  seeing  how 
immensely  it  outnumbers  all  other  classes  of  illuminated 
manuscripts.  Its  contents  vary  greatly,  both  in  matter 
and  arrangement,  but  almost  always  include  the  following 
nucleus  : — (i)  Calendar  ;  (2)  Four  Lessons,  one  from  each 
Gospel,  viz.  the  opening  verses  of  S.  John  ("  In  principio 
erat  verbum,"  etc.),  the  Annunciation  from  S.  Luke,  the 
Adoration  of  the  Magi  from  S.  Matthew,  and  the 
conclusion  of  S.  Mark.  These  are  called  "  Cursus 
Evangelii "  by  some  modern  writers,  "  Sequences  of  the 
Gospels "  by  others ;  but  neither  title  occurs  in  the 
manuscripts.  (3)  Two  prayers  to  the  Virgin,  beginning 
"Obsecro  te,"  and  "O  intemerata";  (4)  Hours  or  Office 
of  the  Virgin.  It  is  from  this  section,  generally  the 
longest  in  the  volume,  that  the  name  "  Book  of  Hours  " 
is  taken.  The  opening  words  of  Matins  are  "  Domine 
labia  mea  aperies "  ;  the  other  Hours  begin  "  Deus  in 
adjutorium  meum  intende,"  except  Compline,  which  begins 
"  Converte  nos  Deus  salutaris  noster."  (5)  Hours  of  the 
Cross,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  usually  in  a  very  condensed 
form ;  (6)  The  Seven  Penitential  Psalms  ("  Domine  ne  in 
furore  tuo,"  etc.),  followed  by  Litany  and  prayers ;  (7) 
Memorials  of  Saints  (in  English  Horae  these  are  in- 
troduced into  Lauds  of  the  Virgin) ;  (8)  Vigils,  or  Office, 
of  the  Dead ;  consisting  of  Vespers  (called  "  Placebo," 
from  its  opening  word,  in  old  English  literature)  and 
Matins  ("  Dirige  ").  (9)  English  Horae  usually  have  also 
the  Commendation  of  Souls,  beginning  "  Beati  imma- 
culati."  Additions  to  the  above,  too  many  and  too  various 
to  be  enumerated  here,  are  frequently  found,  especially  in 
French  Horae  of  the  fifteenth  century,  e.g.  Hours  of 
S.  Catherine,  Mass  of  the  Trinity,  etc. 
328 


LITURGICAL    MANUSCRIPTS 

Illuminated  Books  of  Hours  occur  before  the  end  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  and  by  the  end  of  the  fourteenth 
they  had  become  extremely  popular.  Their  normal  decora- 
tion includes  the  following  full  or  half-page  miniatures 
(apart  from  Calendar-illustrations,  borders,  and  initials): — 
At  the  Gospel-lessons,  portraits  of  the  Evangelists.  At 
Matins  of  the  Virgin,  the  Annunciation,  sometimes  with 
a  portrait  of  the  owner  adoring  the  Virgin ;  Lauds,  the 
Visitation ;  Prime,  the  Nativity ;  Tierce,  Angel  and 
Shepherds  ;  Sext,  Adoration  of  the  Magi ;  None,  Presenta- 
tion in  the  Temple ;  Vespers,  Flight  into  Egypt ;  Com- 
pline, Coronation  of  the  Virgin.  Hours  of  the  Cross;  the 
Crucifixion.  Hours  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  Pentecost.  Peni- 
tential Psalms;  David  kneeling,  or  sometimes  Bathsheba, 
sometimes  the  Death  Angel.  Memorials  of  Saints ; 
miniatures  of  the  several  saints  commemorated.  Vigils 
of  the  Dead  ;  Raising  of  Lazarus,  or  sometimes  a  Burial, 
or  sometimes  the  Three  Living  and  Three  Dead ;  but 
most  commonly  the  interior  of  a  church,  with  monks 
chanting  round  a  bier.  Commendation  of  Souls ;  the 
Day  of  Judgment,  with  the  dead  rising  from  their 
graves. 


329 


SELECT  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

THE  following  list  contains,  for  the   most  part,  only  those 
publications  which  the  present  writer  has  found  specially 
useful,   and   which  ought  to    be  consulted    by  all  serious 
students  of  the  several  branches  of  the  art  of  illumination  with  which 
they  deal.     It  may  be  supplemented  to  some  extent  by  reference  to  the 
footnotes  on  the  foregoing  pages. 

I.     PERIODICALS 

Archivio  Storico  del?  Arte.     Rome,  1888,  etc.  ;  continued  from  1898  as  L'Arte. 

Les  Arts  anciens  de  Flandre.     Bruges,  1904,  etc. 

Burlington  Magazine.     London,  1902,  etc. 

Fondation  Eugene  Piot.     Monuments  et  Memoires.     Paris,   1894,  etc.  (Acad. 

des  Inscr.  et  Belles-Lettres). 
Gazette  des  Beaux-Arts.     Paris,  1859,  etc. 
Jahrbuch  der  kunsthistorischen  Sammlungen  des  allerhochsten  Kaiserhauses. 

Vienna,  1883,  etc.     Cited  below  zsjahrb. 
Revue  de  FArt  ancien  et  moderne.     Paris,  1897,  etc. 

II.     GENERAL  WORKS 

BASTARD,  COUNT  A.  DE.     Peintures  et  ornements  des  MSS.     1832-69. 

BRADLEY,  J.  W.     Dictionary  of  Miniaturists.     1887-9. 

CHROUST,  A.     Monumenta  Palaeographica.     Denkmdler  der  Schreibkunst  des 

Mittelalters.     1899,  etc. 

GARRUCCI,  R.     Storia  della  Arte  cristiana.     1872-81. 
KRAUS,  F.  X.     Geschichte  der  christlichen  Kunst.     1896-1900. 
MICHEL,   A.     Histoire  de  VArt.     1905,    etc.    (sections   on   miniature   by  G. 

Millet,  P.  Leprieur,  A.  Haseloff,  and  P.  Durrieu). 
NEW  PALAEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY.     Facsimiles  of  ancient  MSS.,  etc.^  ed.  E.  M. 

Thompson,  G.  F.  Warner,  and  F.  G.  Kenyon.     1903,  etc. 
PALAEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY.     Facsimiles  of  MSS.  and  Inscriptions^  ed.  E.  A. 

Bond,  E.  M.  Thompson,  and  G.  F.  Warner.     1873-94. 
SHAW,  H.     Illuminated  Ornaments.     1833. 
THIEME,  U.,  and  BECKER,  F.     Allgemeines  Lexikon  der  bildenden  Kiinstler. 

1907,  etc. 
VENTURI,  A.     Storia  del?  Arte  italiana.     1901,  etc. 

331 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 

III.     CATALOGUES,  ETC.,  OF  SINGLE  COLLECTIONS  OR 

EXHIBITIONS 

ANCONA,   P.   D'.     La  miniatura  ferrarese  nel  fondo  urbinate  della   Vaticana 

(L'Arte,  1910,  pp.  353-61). 
BEISSEL,  S.  Vaticanische  Miniaturen.  Miniatures  choisies  de  la  bibl.  du  Vatican. 

1893. 
BRITISH  MUSEUM.     Catalogue  of  Ancient  MSS.,  by  E.  M.   Thompson  and 

G.  F.  Warner.     1881-4. 

Guide  to  Exhibited  MSS.     1906. 

v.  Kenyon,  F.  G.,  and  Warner,  Sir  G.  F. 

BURLINGTON  FINE  ARTS  CLUB.     Exhibition  of  Illuminated  MSS.  Catalogue  [by 

S.  C.  Cockerell].      1908.     Illustrated  edition  [1909]. 
CARTA,  F.     Codici  corali  e  libri  a  stampa  miniati  della  Bibl.  Naz.  di  Milano. 

1895. 
CARTA,  F.,  CIPOLLA,  C.,  and  FRATI,  C.     Atlante  paleografico-artistico  [Turin 

Exhibition,  1898].     1899. 
CHANTILLY,  MUS£E  COND£.     Cabinet  des  Litres.  MSS.  [illustrated  Catalogue 

by  the  Due  d'Aumale].      1900. 

DOREZ,  L.  Les  MSS.  a  peintures  de  la  bibl.  de  Lord  Leicester.  1908. 
DURIEUX,  A.  Les  miniatures  des  MSS.  de  la  bibl.  de  Cambrai.  1861. 
FLEURY,  E.  Les  MSS.  a  miniatures  de  la  bibl.  de  Laon.  1863  ;  —  de  Soissons. 

1865. 
HERMANIN,   F.     Le   miniature  ferrarese  della  bibl.    Vaticana  (L'Arte,    1900, 

pp.  341-73)- 
JAMES,  M.  R.     Catalogue  of  the  Fitzwilliam  MSS.     1895  ;  —  of  the  MSS.  at 

Pembroke  College,  Cambridge.     1905  ;  —  at  Trinity  College,  Cambridge. 

1900-4 ;  —  and  of  many  other  collections  at  Cambridge  and  elsewhere, 

especially  Morgan,  J.  P.,  and  Thompson,  H.  Y.,  q.v. 
KENYON,  F.  G.     Facsimiles  of  Biblical  MSS.  in  the  British  Museum.     1900. 
KERSHAW,  S.  W.     Art  Treasures  of  the  Lambeth  Library.     1873. 
KOBELL,  L.  VON.     Kunstvolle  Miniaturen  [from  Munich  MSS.     1890]. 
MARCHESE,    V.      5".    Marco,    Convento    dei  Padri   Predicatori    in    Firenze. 

1853- 
MORGAN,  J.  PIERPONT.    Catalogue  of  MSS.  of  [by  M.  R.  James.    Many  plates 

in  gold  and  colours].      1906. 
MUNOZ,  A.     L'art  byzantin  a  F  exposition  de  Grottaferrata.      1906. 

/  codici greet  miniati  delle  minori  bibliotheche  di  Roma.      1905. 

OECHELHAUSER,    A.    VON.      Die   Miniaturen    der    Universitats-Bibliothek    zu 

Heidelberg.      1 887-95 . 
OMONT,  H.    Facsimile's  des  miniatures  des  MSS.  grecs  de  la  Bibl.  Nat.    Paris, 

1902. 

PRIMITIFS  FRAN^AIS,  EXPOSITION  DES.     Catalogue.     1904. 
RONDONI,  F.      Guida  del  R.  Museo  ftorentino  di  S.  Marco.     1872. 

332 


SELECT    BIBLIOGRAPHY 

TAEGGI,  O.  P.     Le  Miniature  net  codici  cassinesi.     1887,  etc. 

Paleografia  artistica  di  Montecassino.      1876. 

THOMPSON,  SIR  E.  M.     [Notes  on  an  exhibition  of  English  illuminated  MSS.] 

(Soc.  of  Antiquaries,  Proceedings,  2nd  ser.,  xvi,  pp.  213-32).     1896. 
THOMPSON,  H.  YATES.     Catalogue  of  MSS.  of,  by  M.  R.  James  and  others. 

1898-1907. 

Illustrations  of  too  MSS.      1907-8. 

Lecture  on  some  English  illuminated  MSS.     1902. 

VALERI,  F.  M.     La  collezione  delle  miniature  deW Archivio  di  Stato  in  Bologna 

(Archivio  Storico  delV  Arte,  1894,  pp.  1-20). 
WARNER,  SIR  G.  F.     British  Museum.     Reproductions  from  illuminated  MSS. 

1907-8. 
Illuminated  MSS.  in  the  Brit.  Mus.  [60  plates  in  gold  and  colours]. 

1899-1903. 

IV.     REPRODUCTIONS   OF,   OR  MONOGRAPHS   ON, 
PARTICULAR  MSS. 

ABBOTT,  T.  K.     Celtic  Ornaments  from  the  Book  of  Kells.     1895. 

ALBANI,  CARD.  A.     Menologium  Graecorum.     1727. 

BAILLIE-GROHMAN,  W.  A.  and  F.     The  Master  of  Game.     1904. 

BASTARD,  COUNT  A.  DE.     Peintures  de  la  Bible  de  Charles  le  Chauve.     1883. 

BEISSEL,  S.    Die  Bilder  der  Hs.  des  Kaisers  Otto  im  Munster  zu  Aachen.    1886. 

Des  hi.  Bernward  Evangelienbuch  im  Dome  zu  Hildesheim.     1891. 

BELTRAMI,  L.    II  Librod1  OreBorromeo,  alia  Bibl.  Ambros.,  miniato  da  Cristo- 

foro  Preda.     1896. 
BERTAUX,  E.,  and  BIROT,  G.     Le  Missel  de  Thomas  James,  Eveque  de  Dol 

[by  Attavante]  (Revue  de  VArt  anc.  et  mod.,  xx,  pp.  129-46).     1906. 
BETHE,  E.    Terentius.    Cod.  Ambros.  H.  75  inf.  phototypice  depictus  (De  Vries, 

Codd.  Gr.  et  Lat.,  viii).     1903. 
BIRCH,  W.  DE  G.     Liber  Vitae.     Hampshire  Record  Soc.,  1892. 

Memorials  of  St.  Guthlac.     1881. 

On  two  Anglo-Saxon  MSS.  (Roy.  Soc.  of  Lit.,  Transactions,  new  ser.,  xi, 

pt.  iii).     1876. 

The  Utrecht  Psalter.     1876. 

BOUCICAUT.   Heures  du  Marechal  de  Boucicaut,    Soc.  des  Bibliophiles  fr.,  1889. 
CARYSFORT,  WILLIAM,  EARL  OF.     Pageants  of  Richard  Beauchamp,  Earl  of 

Warwick.     Roxb.  Club,  1908. 
CERIANI,  A.  M.    Homeri  Iliadis  pictae  fragmenta  Ambrosiana  phototypice  edita. 

1905. 
CHMELARZ,  E.     Das  dltere  Gebetbuch  des  K.  Maximilian  I  (Jahrb.,  vii,  pp.    \ 

201-6).     1888. 
Konig  Rene  der   Gute  und  die  Hs.  seines  Romanes  "  Cuer  d>  Amours 

Espris"  (id.,  xi,  pp.  116-39).      1890. 

333 


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CHMELARZ,  E.    Ein  Vervoandter  des  Breviarium  Grimani  (ib. ,  ix,  pp.  429-45). 

1889. 
COCKERELL,  S.  C.     The  Gorleston  Psalter.     1907. 

Hours  of  Yolande  of  Flanders.     1905. 

Psalter  and  Hours  of  Isabelle  of  France.      1905. 

COUDERC,  C.     Livre  de  la  Chasse  [1909]. 

COXE,  H.  O.     The  Apocalypse  of  S.  John  the  Divine.     Roxb.  Club,  1876. 
DELISLE,  L.     Les  Heures  dites  de  Jean  Pucelle.     1910. 
-DELISLE,  L.,  and  MEYER,  P.     L  Apocalypse  en  francais.     Soc.  des  anc.  textes 

fr.,  1901. 

DESTR£E,  J.     Les  Heures  de  N.  D.  dites  de  Hennessy.     1895  '•> — 
[same  title.     Full  reproduction  of  the  miniatures,  without  letterpress] 

(Musee  des  Enluminures,  fasc.  4-6)  [1907]. 
DE  VRIES,  S.     Codices  Graeci  et  Latini  photographice  depicti.     v.  Bethe,  E., 

Omont,  H.,  and  Premerstein,  A.  von. 

13.  Grimani  Breviary. 

DEWICK,  E.  S.     Coronation  Book  of  Charles  V.     Henry  Bradshaw  Soc.,  1899. 

Metz  Pontifical.     Roxb.  Club,  1902. 

DIEZ,  E.     Die  Miniaturen  des  Wiener  Dioskurides  (Byzantinische  Denkmaler, 

iii,  pp.  1-69).      1903. 

DORNHOFFER,  F.     Hortulus  Animae  [reproduction  in  colours].      1907,  etc. 
DURRIEU,  COUNT  P.    Les  Antiquitesjudaiquesetlepeintre  Jean  Foucquet.    1908. 
Les  Belles  Heures  de  Jean  de  France,  due  de  Berry  (Gas.  des  Beaux-Arts, 

1906,  i,  pp.  265-92). 

Le  Boccace  de  Munich.     1909. 

Heures  de  Turin.      1902. 

Lhistoire  du  bon  rot  Alexandre  (Revue  de  VArt  anc.   et  mod.,  xiii,  pp. 

49-64,  103-21).     1903. 

Uorigine  du  manuscrit  celebre  dit  le  Psaiitier  d1  Utrecht.     1895. 

Les  '  tres  belles  heures  de  N.DS  du  due  Jean  de  Berry  (Revue  Archeol., 

ser.  iv,  xvi,  pp.  30-51,  246-79).     1910. 

Les  Tres  Riches  Heures  de  Jean,  due  de  Berry.     1904. 

ELLIS,  F.  S.     The  Hours  of  Albert  of  Brandenburg  [1883]. 

ELLIS,  SIR  H.      Caedmon's  Paraphrase  (Archaeologia,  xxiv,  pp.  329-4).     1832. 

FORBES-LEITH,  W.     Gospel  Book  of  St.  Margaret.     1896. 

Life  of  St.  Cuthbert.      1888. 

GAGE,  J.     St.  Aethelwold's  Benedictional  and  the  "  Benedictionarius   Roberti 

Archiepiscopi"  (Archaeologia,  xxiv,  pp.  1-136).      1832. 
GASQUET,  F.  A.,  and  BISHOP,  E.     The  Bosworth  Psalter.     1908. 
GEBHARDT,  O.  VON.     The  Miniatures  of  the  Ashburnham  Pentateuch.     1883. 
GEBHARDT,    O.  VON,  and   HARNACK,  A.     Evangeliorum  Codex  graecus  pur- 

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334 


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HARTEL,  W.  RITTER  VON,  and  WICKHOFF,  F.     Die  Wiener  Genesis.     1895. 

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335 


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»»  PP-  97-no,  281-92,  391-405). 

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Melanges  de  Paleographie  et  de  Bibliographic.     1880. 

Memoire  sur  d1  anciens  sacramentaires  (Mem.  deFAcad.  des  Inscr.  et  Belles- 

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Notice  de  douze  livres  royaux.     1902. 

DIEHL,  C.    Justinien.     1901. 

DURRIEU,    COUNT    P.      Un   dessin   du  Musee  du  Louvre,  attribue  a  Andre 

Beauneveu  (Fond.  E.  Piot,  i,  pp.  179-202).     1894. 
Jacques  Coene,  peintre  de  Bruges  (Les  Arts  anc.  de  Flandre,  ii,  pp.  5-22). 

1906. 
Les  miniatures  a" Andre  Beauneveu  (Le  Manuscrit,  i,  pp.  52-6,  84-95). 

1894. 
Lapeinture  en  France  au  debut  du  xif  siecle  (Revue  de  fart  anc.  etmod., 

xix,  pp.  401-15,  xx,  pp.  21-35).     1906. 
FOWLER,  J.     On  mediaeval  representations  of  the  months  and  seasons  (Archaeo- 

logia,  xliv,  pp.  137-224).     1873. 
GILBERT,     J.    T.     National    MSS.    of  Ireland,    pt.    i.       1874.      [Coloured 

plates] 

GRUYER,  G.     L'Artferrarais.     1897. 
HASELOFF,  A.    Les  Psautiers  de  St.  Lcuis  (Mem.  de  la  Soc.  Nat.  des  Antiquaires 

de  France,  lix,  pp.  18-42).      1900. 

Eine  thiiringisch-sachsische  Malerschule  des  /j.  Jahrhunderts.     1897. 

HERMANN,  H.  J.     Miniaturhss.  aus  der  Bibl.  des  Hersogs  Andrea  Matteo  III 

Acquaviva  (Jahrb.,  xix,  pp.  147-216).     1898. 
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JANITSCHEK,  H.     Geschichte  der  deutschen  Malerei.     1890. 
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(Jahrb.,  xxi,  pp.  1-90).     igoo. 
338 


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KELLER,  F.     Bilder  in  den  irischen  MSS.  der  schweiz.  Bibliotheken  (Mittheil. 

der  Antiq.  Gesellsch.  in  Zurich,  vii,  Heft  3,  pp.  61-97).     1851.     Transl. 

by  W.   Reeves,    Ulster  Journ.   of  Archaeol.,  viii,  pp.   210-30,  291-308. 

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KONDAKOFF,  N.  P.     Histoire  de  VArt  byzantin.     1886-91. 
LABORDE,  COUNT  A.  DE.     Les  MSS.  a  peintures  de  la  Cite  de  Dieu.     Soc.  des 

Bibliophiles  fr.,  1909. 
LAFENESTRE,  G.    Jehan  Fouquet.     1905. 
LASTEYRIE,  R.  DE.     Les  miniatures  d?  Andre  Beauneveu  et  de  Jacquemart  de 

Hesdin  (Fond.  E.  Piot,  iii,  pp.  71-119).      1896. 
LATIL,  A.  M.     Le  Miniature  nei  Rotoli  delT  Exult  et.     1899,  etc. 

UTZ,  J.,  and  PERDRIZET,  P.     Speculum  Humanae  Salvationis.     1907-9. 
MALE,    E.    Jean  Bourdichon  et  son  atelier  (Gas.   des  Beaux- Arts,    1904,   ii, 

pp.  441-57)- 
Trots  oeuvres  nouvelles  de  Jean   Bourdichon   (ib.,    1902,    i,    pp.    185- 

203). 
MARTIN,  H.     Les  Miniaturistes  francais.     1906. 

Les  Peintres  de  MSS.  et  la  Miniatiire  en  France.     [1909] 

MILLER,    K.     Die    Weltkarte  des  Beatus  (Die  altesten   Weltkarten,  Heft  i). 

1895. 
MONGERI,  P.     L'  arte  del  minio  nel  diicato  di  Milano  (Archivio  Storico  Lom- 

bardo,  1885,  pp.  330-56,  528-57,  759~96)- 
B.,  L.    Miniature  Sforzcsche  di  Cristoforo Preda  (Rassegna  d'Arte,  i,  pp.  28-9). 

1901. 
PROU,  M.     Dessins  du  xi'  siecle  et  peintures  du  xiii'  siecle  (Revue  de  fart 

chretien,  1890,  pp.  122-8). 
RIEGL,   A.     Die  mittelalterliche   Kalenderillustration  (Mittheil.   des  Instituts 

fur  oesterr.  Geschichtsforschung,  x,  pp.  1-74).      1889. 
RUSHFORTH,  G.  McN.     The  "  Descent  into  Hell"  in  Byzantine  Art  (Papers  of 

the  British  School  at  Rome,  i,  pp.  114-19).      1902. 
REIBER,  W.  L.     Biblia  Pauperum.      1903. 
STETTINER,  R.     Die  illustrierten  Prudentius-Handschriften*     1895. 

Same  title,  vol.  i  (200  plates).     1905. 
STOKES,  M.     Early  Christian  Art  in  Ireland.     1887. 
SWARZENSKI,    G.     Die  Regensburger  Buchmalerei  des  X  und  XI  Jahrhun- 

derts.     1901. 

TESTI,  L.     Storia  della  Pittura  veneziana,  i,  1909. 
THOMPSON,  SIR  E.  M.     English  Illuminated  MSS.     1895. 
TIKKANEN,  J.  J.     Die  Psalterillustration  im  Mittelalter.      1895. 
VALLET  DE  VIRIVILLE,  A.     Notice  de  quelques  MSS.  precieux  (Gaz.  des  Beaux- 

Arts,  1866,  i,  pp.  453-66,  ii,  pp.  275-85,  471-88). 
VITELLI  E  PAOLI.     Facsimili  paleografici.   n.d. 
VITZTHUM,    GRAF   G.     Die  Pariser    Miniaturmalerei  von   der  Zeit  des  hi. 

Ludwig  bis  zu  Philipp  von  Valois.      1907. 

339 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 

VOGE,  W.  Eine  deutsche  Malerschule  um  die  Wende  des  ersten  Jahrtausends. 
1891. 

WEALE,  W.  H.  J.     Gerard  David.     1895. 

Simon  Binnink,  miniaturist  (Burl.  Mag.,  viii,  pp.  355-7).      1906. 

WESTWOOD,  J.  O.  Facsimiles  of  the  Miniatures  and  Ornaments  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Irish  MSS.  1868. 

On  peculiarities  in  Irish  MSS.  (Archaeol.  Journ.,  vii.,  pp.  17-25).    1850. 

Palaeographia  Sacra  Pictoria.     1843-5. 


340 


INDEX 


MANUSCRIPTS 


Abbeville:  No.  i  (Cod.  Aur.),  101 
Aix-la-Chapelle,    Cathedral  :     Gospel- 
books,  92,  148 

Arras:  No.  1045  (S.VaastLectionary),io5 
Austria-Este,  Archduke  Francis  Ferdi- 
nand of:  Borso  Bible,  291 ;  Brevi- 
ary and  Officium  of  Ercole  I,  292-3 

Bamberg  :  A.  1.5  (Alcuin-Bible),  95 

Bari :  Exultet  Roll,  166 

Berlin,   Royal  Library:   Eneidt  (germ. 

fol.  282),  156;  Itala,  1 6 
Boulogne,  Bibl.  Municip. :  No.  20  (S.  j 

Omer  Psalter),  no 
Bristol,  Baptist  College:  Cotton  Genesis, 

17 

Brussels,  Royal  Library :  Apocalypse  (B. 
282),  217  ;  Berry  Hours  (11060-1), 
250;  Breviary  of  Philip  the  Good 
(9511,  9026),  312;  Conquetes  de 
Charlemagne  (9066-8 ),  3 1 2 ;  Gospels 
of  S.  Victor-in-Santem  (18723),  92; 
Hennessy  Hours,  322  ;  Histoire  de 
Charles  Martel  (6-9),  312;  Histoire 
du  Haynaut  (9242-4),  311 ;  Missal 
of  Mathias  Corvinus  (9008),  297  ; 
Peterborough  Psalter  (9961-2),  224 

Cambrai,  Public  Library:  Nos.  149,  327 

(Missal  and  Bible),  306-7 
Cambridge,  Corpus  Christi  College :  No. 

286  (S.  Augustine's  Gospels),  160 

—  Fitzvrilliam  Museum:  No.  48  (Carew- 

Poyntz  Horae),  231 

—  Pembroke  College:   No.  120  (Bury 

St.  Edmund's  Gospels),  136 

—  St.    John's    College :    C.    9    (Irish 

Psalter),  82 

—  Trinity    College  :     Apocalypse    (R. 

16.2),  214;  Eadwin  Psalter,  no; 
Winchester  Gospels  (B.  10.4),  128 


Cambridge,  University  Library :  li.  vi. 
32  (Book  of  Deer),  83;  LI.  i.  10 
(Bp.  Aethelwald's  Prayer-book),  85 

Chantilly,  Musee  Conde :  Breviary  of 
Jeanne  d'Evreux,  246 ;  Crucifixion 
(A.  de'  Bonfratelli),  305  ;  Hours 
of  E.  Chevalier,  280,  pi.  xlii;  Inge- 
burge  Psalter,  193;  Registrum 
Gregorii,  150 ;  Tres  Riches  Heures, 
271,  pi.  xl 

Cividale :  Cod.  Gertrud.,  147,  pi.  xix 

Coblenz,  Archives :  Treves  "  Kopial- 
buch,"  307 

Constantinople,  Seraglio:  Octateuch,  48 

Darmstadt:  No.  1948  (Gero  Gospels), 

J45 

Devonshire,  Duke  of:  Benedictional  of 
S.  Aethelwold,  126 

Douai,  Public  Library :  No.  171  (Psalter), 
226 

Dublin,  Trinity  College :  Book  of  Ar- 
magh, 8 1  ;  of  Dimma,  72 ;  of 
Durrow,  71 ;  of  Kells,  76,  pi.  vii ; 
of  Mulling,  8 1 ;  Psalter  of  Rice- 
march,  83 

Durham,  Cathedral  Library :  Pudsey 
Bible,  138  ;  Cassiodorus  (B.  ii.  30), 
85;  Gospels  (A.  ii.  17),  85 

Epernay :  No.  1722  (Ebbo  Gospels),  104 
Etschmiadzin :  Gospels,  34 

Florence  :  Rabula  Gospels,  32  ;  Reiche- 
nau  Sacramentary,  146 

Gaeta,  Cathedral:  Exultet  Rolls,  167 
Gotha:  Echternach  Gospels,  149 

Heidelberg,  University  Library:  Sacra- 
mentary (SaL  ixb),  145 

341 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 


Hildesheim,  Cathedral :  Bible,  Gospels, 
and  Sacramentary  of  S.  Bernward, 

151 
—  S.  Godehard's  Church :   S.  Alban's 

Psalter,  136 
Holford,    Sir    G.    L. :    Passion   of   S. 

Edmund,  135 
Holkham,    Lord    Leicester's    Library : 

Weingarten  Missals,  207 

Innsbruck,  University  Library :  Missal 
of  Card.  Ippolito  I  d'Este,  293; 
Prayer-book  of  J.  Bourgeois,  285 

Ivrea,  Chapter  Library :  Sacramentary 
of  S.  Warmund,  162 

Jacquemart-Andre,  Madame :  Boucicaut 
Hours,  266 

Leyden,  University  Library :  Psalter  of 

5,  Louis,  141 

Lichfield,  Cathedral  Library :  Gospels 
of  S.  Chad,  75 

London,  British  Museum:  Additional 
MSS.  4949,  64;  5111,  30;  9350, 
1 68;  10546  (Alcuin-Bible),  95, 
pi.  xi;  11662,  4;  11695,  210; 
11838,  62;  11870  (Metaphrastes), 
54,  pi.  v;  1 201 2,  288;  14779- 
82,  302 ;  14788-90  (Louvain 
Bible),  158;  14802,  290;  15205- 

6,  260;  15244-5,  246,  pi.  xxxvii; 
15246,    302;    15270-3,    289,    pi. 
xlv;    15274-5,  263;    15816,  294; 
16532,  257;    16605,   157;   16949, 
203;    16997,    280;    17280,    319; 
17294,  291;   17333.   218;   17341, 
199,  pi.  xxvi;  17373.  294;  17687, 
208;    17737-8    (Floreffe    Bible), 
159;    17742,    194;    17868,    197; 
18000,  294*;  18144,  208;  18196- 

7,  259;     18198,     259;     18633, 
218;        18719,        200;        18720 
(Bologna     Bible),     260;      18850 
(Bedford    Hours),    273,    pi.    xli ; 
18851      (Isabella      Book),     318; 
18852,  319;  18854,  285;   18855, 
285,    323;    18859,    164;     19352 
(Theodore    Psalter),    49;    19899, 
205;     20916,     294;     20927     (G. 
Clovio),  304;  21120,  303;  21412 
(Rogers     Album),     259;     21413 
(Sforza  deed),  300;   21414,  294; 

342 


21463,  294;  21965,  257;  21973, 
2S9;  22493,  218;  22497,  257; 
22736,  64;  22740,  64;  23923, 
262;  24098  ("  Golf  Book "),  322, 
pi.  li;  24189,  309,  pi.  xlix;  24199, 
in  ;  24683,  205  ;  24686  (Tenison 
Psalter),  190,  pi.  xxiv;  25600, 
210;  25697,  295;  25698,  316, 
pi.  1;  27428,  262;  27695,  263; 
27697  (Saluces  Hours),  283; 
28106-7  (Stavelot  Bible),  157; 
28162  (Somme  le  Roi),  201,  pi. 
xxviii;  28271,  303;  28785,  279; 
28815,  64;  28841,  263;  28962, 
302;  29253,  306;  29433,  269; 
29704-5.  233.  .P1-  xxxiv;  29735 
(S.  Croce  Breviary),  295  ;  30014 
Siena  Hymnal),  286  ;  30029,  306; 
3°337  (Exultet  Roll),  167,  pi.  xx.; 
30844-6,  30850,  30853  (Silos 
MSS.),  210;  31032,  261;  32058, 
25?;  32454,  269;  33733  (Vic- 
tories of  Charles  V),  305  ;  33997, 
295;  34247,  259;  34294  (Sforza 
Book),  298,  pi.  xlvii,  xlviii ;  34309, 
256 ;  34890  (Grimbald  Gospels), 
131,  pi.  xv ;  35030,  47;  35085, 
196;  35l66,  214;  35254,  259, 
285,  288,  pi.  xliv;  35311  (Bur- 
gundy Breviary),  270;  3531 3,  320  ; 
353J9.  317;  35321,  282;  36684, 
306;  36928,  47;  37421  (J. 
Fouquet),  281;  37517  (Bosworth 
Psalter),  129;  37768  (Lothaire 
Psalter),  104;  37955^288;  38037 
(Toledo  Missal),  303 

London,  British  Museum :  Arundel 
MSS.  60,  132;  83  (E.  Anglian 
Psalter),  224,  pi.  xxxiii;  155,  129; 
157,  176;  547,65 

Burney  MSS.  3,  182 ;  19,  64, 

pi.  iv;  20,64;  257,267;  275,247 

Cotton  MSS.  Calig.  A.  xv,  1 20 ; 

Claud.  B.  iv  (Aelfric's  Hexateuch), 
120;  Claud.  D.  vi,  185;  Cleop.  C. 
viii,  112;  Dom.  A.  xvii  (Psalter 
of  Hen.  VI),  277;  Faust.  B.  vi, 
pt.  ii,  235 ;  Galba  A.  xviii  (Athel- 
stan's  Psalter),  122;  Jul.  A.  vi,  113; 
Nero  C.  iv,  137 ;  Nero  D.  i,  185  ; 
Nero  D.  iv  (Lindisfarne  Gospels), 
73,  pi.  viii ;  Otho  B.  vi  (Cotton 
Genesis),  17;  Tib.  A.  ii  (Athel- 


INDEX 


Stan's  Gospels),  144;  Tib.  B.  v, 
114;  Tib.  B.  viii  (Charles  V's 
Coronation-book),  247  ;  Tib.  C.  vi, 
119,  pi.  xiv ;  Tit.  D.  xvi,  112; 
Tit.  D.  xxvii,  117;  Vesp.  A.  i 
(Psalter  of  S.  Augustine's,  Canter- 
bury), 85 ;  Vesp.  A.  viii  (King 
Edgar's  charter),  125  ;  Vitell.  F.  xi, 
81 

London,  British  Museum:  Egerton  MSS. 
617-8  (Wycliffite  Bible),  231 ;  768 
(Franco-Saxon  Gospels),  105  ;  809, 
153;  943,  262;  1 070  (Hours  of  Rene 
ofAnjou),  283;  1139  (Melissenda 
Psalter),  57,  pi.  vi ;  1147,  323; 
1151,  1 88;  2045  (S.  Pol  Hours), 
283,  pi.  xliii ;  2781,  231 

Harley  MSS.  76  (Bury  S. 

Edmund's  Gospels),  130;  603 
(copy  of  Utrecht  Psalter),  115; 
928,  188;  1023,  82;  1526-7 
(Moralized  Bible),  200;  1802 
(Maelbrigt  Gospels),  82;  1810,  58; 
2278  (Lydgate's  Life  of  S.  Edmund), 
235 ;  2449  (Val-Duchesse  Breviary), 
306  ;  2788  (Cod.  Aur.),  100,  pi.  ix; 
2798-9  (Arnstein  Bible),  154; 
2800-2  (Arnstein  Passionale),  155; 
2803-4  (Worms  Bible),  154 ;  2891, 
247 ;  2897  (Burgundy  Breviary), 
270,  frontispiece;  2899  (Qu. 
Philippa's  Psalter),  231 ;  2904, 1 16 ; 
2930,  205  ;  3045,  155  ;  4374-5 
(Valerius  Maximus),  282;  4381-2 
(Berry  Bible),  252  ;  4425  (Roman 
de  la  Rose),  318;  4751,  187; 
4986,  186 ;  5102,  141;  5761 
(Medici  Petrarch),  295 ;  5790 
(Greek  Gospels  of  Card.  F. 
Gonzaga),  65 ;  7026  (Lovel  Lec- 
tionary),  234;  7183,  168 

Harley  Roll  Y.  6  (Guthlac 

Roll),  140,  pi.  xvii 

—  —  —  King's  MSS.  5  (Biblia 
Pauperum),  308;  156  (Ducale),  294 

Lansdowne  MSS.  420,  179; 

1175  (Bible  of  Charles  V),  252 

Royal  MSS.  i  D.  i  (Bible  of 

William  of  Devon),  183,  pi.  xxiii; 
i  D.  ix  (Canute's  Gospels),  130; 
i  D  x,  176,  pi.  xxi;  i  E.  vi,  87; 

1  E.  ix  (Bible  of  Richard  II),  232; 

2  A.  iii,  205  ;  2  A.  xviii.  (Grandison 


Hours),  234;  2  A.  xxii  (West- 
minster Psalter),  141  ;  2  B.  ii,  197  ; 
2  B.  iii,  204,  pi.  xxix ;  2  B.  vii 
(Qu.  Mary's  Psalter),  221,  pi. 
xxxi-ii ;  3  D.  vi,  1 90 ;  6  E.  ix 
(Prato  verses),  256  ;  10  E.  iv,  230 ; 

14  C.   vii  (Matthew  Paris),  185; 

15  D.  ii  (E.  Anglian  Apocalypse), 
217;  15  E.  ii-iii,  314;    16  F.  ii 
(Charles,  Duke  of  Orleans),  317; 
169.  iii  (D.  Aubert,  Vita  Christi), 
314;  17  E.  vii,  245;  18  D.  viii, 
239;  18  E.  iii-iv,  314;  19  B.  xv, 
217;  19  C.  iv  (Songe  du  Vergier), 
253.;.  J9  C.   viii,   317;   19  D.  ii 
(Poitiers   Bible),    239;    19    E.   v 
(Romuleon),  314;  20  B  vi  (Epistle 
to  Richard  II),  253 

London,  British  Museum :  Sloane  MS. 
1977  (Treatise  on  Surgery),  195,  pi. 
xxvii 

—  Stowe  MSS.  12  (Norwich 

Breviary),  227;  17  (Maestricht 
Hours),  205,  pi.  xxxviii ;  944  (New- 
minster  Liber  Vitae),  117,  pi.  xiii 

—  Lambeth    Archiepiscopal    Library  : 

Apocalypse(209),2i5 ;  Mac  Durnan 
Gospels,  80 

—  Soane  Museum  :  Giulio  Clovio,  304 ; 

Josephus  of  Edw.  IV,  314 

—  Society  of  Antiquaries  :  Mantuan  (?) 

Choir-book,  298 ;  Peterborough 
Psalter  (59),  180,  pi.  xxii 

—  Victoria  and  Albert  Museum,  South 

Kensington :  Flemish  Calendar- 
pictures  (Salting  collection),  323; 
Italian  Choir-books,  259;  S.  Denis 
Missal,  246 

—  Wallace  Collection:  C.  dePredis,  301 

—  Westminster     Abbey.       Lytlington 

Missal,  231  % 

Lulworth    Castle    Library :    Louterell 

Psalter,  229-30 
Lyons  Cathedral :  Attavante  Missal,  296 

Manchester,  John  Rylands  Library:  Lat. 
8  (Beatus  on  the  Apocalypse),  211 

Milan,  Ambrosian  Library :  Borromeo 
Hours  (C.  de  Predis),  301 ;  Greek 
Gospels  (B.  56  Sup.),  65  ;  Greek 
Psalter  (54),  46  ;  Iliad,  8 ;  Petrarch's 
Virgil  (S.  Martini),  258;  Terence 
(H.  75  inf.),  12 

343 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 


Milan,  Trivulzio  Collection :  Donatus  of 
Maximilian  Sforza  (Ambr.  de 
Predis  ?),  300 ;  Missal  (Martino  da 
Modena?),  292 ;  Turin  Hours,  310 

Monte  Cassino:  No  73  (S.  Gregory's 
Moralia),  164;  99  (Homilies),  164; 
175  (Commentary  on  Rule  of  S. 
Benedict),  163 

Morgan,  J.  Pierpont,  Esq. :  Flemish 
Breviary,  321;  Huntingfield  Psalter, 
141  ;  Windmill  Psalter,  220 ;  Work- 
sop  Bestiary  (107),  187 

Mount  Athos,  Pantocrator :  49  (Psalter), 
46 

Vatopedi :  515  (Octateuch),  48; 

609  (Psalter),  46 

Munich,  Hofbibl:  Cim.  54  (Uta-codex), 
153;  Cim.  55  (Cod.  Aur.  of  S. 
Emmeran),  98  •  Cim.  57  (Bamberg 
Lectionary),  150;  Cim.  58  (Bam- 
berg Gospels),  149 ;  Cod.  gall.  369 
(Boccace,  J.  Fouquet),  280 

—  Schatzkammer :      Prayer-book      of 

Charles  the  Bald,  98 

Nuremberg,  Stadtbibl :  Solger  in  4°, 
No.  4  (Hours  of  King  Charles),  200 

Oxford,  Bodleian  Library :  Auct.  D.  4. 
17  (Apocalypse),  213;  Bodl.  27ob 
(Moralized  Bible),  200;  Bodl.  579 
(Leofric  Missal),  116;  Douce  180 
(Apocalypse),  216,  pi.  xxx ;  Douce 
366  (Ormesby  Psalter),  228;  Douce 
374  (Miracles  de  N.  D.),  313; 
Junius  ii  (Caedmon),  118;  Lat. 
Liturg.  f.  5  (S.  Margaret's  Gospel- 
book),  133;  Rawlinson  B.  484 
(leaf  from  Athelstan's  Psalter),  123; 
Rushworth  Gospels  (Mac  Regol),  79 
4 

Padua,  Cathedral:  Epistolar,  170; 
Gospel-book,  169 

Paris,  Bibl.  de  1' Arsenal :  No.  623  (S. 
Magloire  Missal),  273;  664  (Te'rence 
des  Dues),  267;  1186  (Psalter  of 
Blanche  of  Castile),  193;  5059 
(Papeleu  Bible),  239 

—  Bibl.  de  Ste.  Genevieve :  Canterbury 

Bible,  139 

—  Bibl.  Nationale :    Coislin  79  (Chry- 

sostom  of  Nicephorus  Botaniates), 
4i 
344 


Paris,  Bibl.  Nationale :  Fonds  franc.ais, 
18-9  (Cite  de  Dieu),  282 ;  247 
(Fouquet,  Josephus),  2795403  (Apo- 
calypse), 213;  616  (Livre  de  la 
Chasse),  267;  2090-2  (Legende  de 
St.  Denis),  239;  2810  (Livre  des 
Merveilles),  267 ;  6465  (Fouquet, 
Grandes  Chroniques),  280;  9198-9 
(Miracles  de  N.  D.),3i3;  9350  (after 
Cotton  Genesis),  17;  13091  (Duke 
of  Berry's  Lat.-Fr.  Psalter),  249 ; 
19819  (Fouquet,  Order  of  S. 
Michael),  278 

Fonds  grec.,  139  (Psalter),  42; 

510  (Greg.  Naz.),  40;  1208  (Homi- 
lies of  Jacobus),  56 

Fonds  latin,  i  (Vivian  Bible), 

96 ;  2  (2nd  Bible  of  Charles  the 
Bald),  105  ;  18  (Bologna  Bible), 
260;  257  (Gospels  of  Frangois  II), 
105;  265  (Blois  Gospels),  104;  266 
(Lothaire  Gospels),  97  ;  919  (Duke 
of  Berry's  "Grandes  Heures"), 
251;  1023  (Breviary  of  Philippe 
le  Bel),  237;  1150  (Moralized 
Bible),  200;  1152  (Psalter  of  Charles 
the  Bald),  98;  1161  (Hours),  268; 
3063  (Scotus  of  Ferd.  of  Aragon), 
2895  8846,  anc.  Suppl.  lat.  1194 
(Tripartite  Psalter),  no;  8850 
(Soissons  Cod.  Aur.),  103,  pi.  x; 
9383,  9388  (Gospel-books),  104; 
9428  (Drogo  Sacramentary),  103; 
9474  (Hours  of  Anne  of  Brittany), 
284 ;  10483-4  (Belleville  Breviary), 
240;  10525  (Little  Psalter  of 
S.  Louis),  198;  11935  (Billyng 
Bible),  240;  12048  (Gellone 
Sacramentary),  89;  17294  (Brev- 
iary of  John,  Duke  of  Bedford), 
275;  17326  (Ste.  Chapelle  Lection- 
ary), 199;  18014  (Duke  of  Berry's 
"Petites  Heures"),  251 

Nouv.  acq.  fr.,  1098  (Vie  de 

St.  Denys),  195;  21013  (Fouquet, 
Josephus),  279 

Nouv.  acq.  lat.,  1203,  anc. 

1993  (Godescalc  Gospel-book), 
100;  1359  (Chronicle  of  S.  Martin 
des  Champs),  4;  1416  (Fouquet, 
Hours  of  E.  Chevalier),  281 ; 
2334  (Ashburnham  Pentateuch), 
161 


INDEX 


Paris,  Bibl.  Nationale:  Suppl.  gr.  1286 
(Cod.  Sinop.),  29 

—  Collection  Dutuit :  Hist,  du  bon  roi 

Alexandre,  312 

—  Musee  du  Louvre.  Fouquet,  Hours  | 

of  E.  Chevalier,  281 ;  Turin  Hours,  j 
310 

Perrins,  C.  W.  Dyson,  Esq. :  Gorleston 
Psalter,  226;  Ovid,  289 

Rome,  Archives  of  S.  Peter's  :  Codice  di 
S.  Giorgio,  258 

—  Barberini     Library :     Calendar     of 

Filocalus,  3 

—  S.  Paul's:  Bible,  98 

—  Vatican     Library:     Pal.     gr.     381 

(Psalter),  47 ;  431  (Joshua  Roll),  42 

Pal.  lat.  1071  (Fred.  II,  De  arte 

venandi  cum  avibus),  172 

Reg.  gr.  i  (Bible),  47 ;  Reg. 

lat.  438  (Calendar-pictures),  113 

Urbino-Vat.  gr.  2  (Gospels),  60 

Vat.  gr.  394  (Climacus),  56 ; 

666  (Alexius  Comnenus),  41 ;  699 
(Cosmas  Indicopleustes),  40 ;  746- 
7  (Octateuchs),  48;  1162  (Homi- 
lies of  Jacobus),  56;  1291  (Pto- 
lemy), 39;  1613  (Menology  of 
Basil  II),  52;  2138  (Evangelis- 
tarium).  65 

Vat.  lat.  20  (Bologna  Bible), 

260;  1202  (Life  of  S.  Benedict), 
164;  3225  (Vatican  Virgil),  5, 
pi.  ii;  3867  (Virgil,  Codex  Ro- 
manus),  10;  3868  (Terence),  12 

Rossano,  Cathedral:  Greek  Gospels 
(Cod.  Rossan.)  22,  pi.  iii 

Rothschild,  Baroness  Adolphe  de : 
Heures  de  Pucelle,  240 

—  Baron  Edmond  de :  Duke  of  Berry's 

"  Belles  Heures,"  273 

—  Baron  Maurice  de :  Duke  of  Berry's 

"  Tres  belles  heures,"  309 
Rouen,  Public  Library :   Benedictional 

of  Abp.  Robert,    127;   Missal  of 

Robert  of  Jumieges,  128 
Rutland,  Duke  of:  Psalter,  188 

S.  Gall:  No  51  (Irish  Gospel-book),  84 
St.    Petersburg :    Grandes    Chroniques, 

3i3 

Siena,  Archivio  di  Stato :  Caleffo  dell' 
Assunta,  257,  pi.  xxxix 

22* 


Siena,    Libreria    Piccolomini :     Choir- 
books,  297,  pi.  xlvi 
Smyrna :  Octateuch,  48 

Thompson,  H.  Yates,  Esq. :  Albani 
Hours,  304 ;  Apocalypse,  (55),  215  ; 
Beatus  on  the  Apocalypse  (97), 
210;  Beaupre  Antiphoner  (83), 
207 ;  Bentivoglio  Bible  (4),  260 ; 
Carrow  Psalter  (52),  181 ;  Coetivy 
Hours  (85),  276 ;  Dunois  Hours 
(n),  276;  Gallican  Missal  (69), 
157;  Hours  of  "Elysabeth  the 
Quene"  (59),  235;  of  Jeanne  de 
Navarre  (75),  242,  pi.  xxxvi;  of 
Rene  II,  Duke  of  Lorraine,  282 ; 
of  Yolande  de  Flandre,  242  ;  Life 
of  Christ  (8 1,  formerly  Ashb.  App. 
72),  255 ;  Life  of  S.  Cuthbert, 
140;  Martyrology  (8),  164;  Metz 
Pontifical  (formerly  Sir  T.  Brooke's), 
237,  pi.  xxxv ;  St.  Omer  Psalter 
(58),  229;  Sainte  Abbaye  (40), 
202;  Taymouth  Hours  (57),  231; 
Verdun  Breviary  (31),  237 

Treves,  City  Library  :  Ada  Gospels  (22), 
101  ;  Cod.  Egberti,  147,  pi.  xviii 

Turin,  National  Library :  Franciscan 
Bible  (D.  i.  13),  260 ;  Turin  Hours, 
310 

—  Royal  Library  :  Lives  of  SS.  Joachim 

and  Anna  (14434),  301 

Utrecht,  University  Library :  Utrecht 
Psalter,  106,  pi.  xii 

Varese,  Church  of  the  Madonna  del 
Monte  sopra :  Missal  (C.  de  Pre- 
dis),  301 

Venice,  S.  Mark's :  Grimani  Breviary, 
319;  Iliad  (454).  13 

Verdun,  Public  Library :  Breviary  (107), 

237 

Verona:  Psalter,  161 
Vienna,  Albertina  Museum  :  Leaf  from 

Missal  of  Alex.  VI  (A.  da  Monza),3oo 

—  Imperial  Library :  No.  847  (Euseb. 

Canons,  etc.),  30;  1907  (Maxi- 
milian's Prayer-book),  321 ;  2533 
(Chron.  de  Jherus.),  312;  2549 
(G.  de  Roussillon),  312;  2706 
(Hortulus  Animae),  312;  3416 
(Calendar  of  Filocalus),  5 

345 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 

Vienna,  Imperial  Library:  Med.  gr.   i      Winchester,    Chapter    Library:    Bible, 
(Dioscorides),  34  i38>  P1- 


Theol.  gr.  31  (Vienna  Genesis), 


20 


—  Schatzkammer :       Gospel-book      of 
Charlemagne,  92 


Windsor,     Royal     Library:     Sobieski 
Hours,  275 

Zurich,     Cantonal     Library :     No.     i 
(Alcuin-Bible),  95 


SCRIBES   AND   ILLUMINATORS 


Aelfwin,  Abbot  of  Newminster,  117 
Aldred,  73 

Alighieri,  Giovanni,  13 
Ancelet,  al.  Anciau  de  Cens,  241 
Aspertini,  Amico,  304 
Attavanti,  Attavante  degli,  296 
Aubert,  D.,  314 
Avogaro,  Marco  dell',  291 

Basilius,  58 

Beauneveu,  Andre,  237,  248-51,  307 

Bede,  85 

Bennink,  Alexander,  314,  322 

—  Simon,  322 
Berengarius,  98 
Billyng,  Robert  de,  240 
Biragus,  Johannes  Petrus,  300 
Blachernae,  Michael  and  Simeon  of,  52 
Bologna,  Niccol6  da,  257,  262 
Bonfratelli,  Apollonio  de',  304 
Bourdichon,  Jean,  266,  284 
Brancalupo,  Rudolfo,  302 

Chevrier,  J.,  241 
Clovio,  Giulio,  304 
Coene,  Jacques,  266 
Colombe,  Jean,  271 
Columba,  S.,  71 
Cremona,  Girolamo  da,  297 
Crivelli,  Taddeo,  291 
Cybo,  Monk  of  Hyeres,  263 

David,  Gerard,  311 

Devon,  William  of,  183,  pi.  xxiii 

Dimma,  Mac  Nathi,  72 

Eadfrith,  Bp.  of  Lindisfarne,  73,  pi.  viii 
Ernestus,  158 

Fouquet,  Francois,  266,  282 

—  Jean,  266,  277-85,  313,  pi.  xlii 

346 


Fcuquet,  Louis,  282 
Franciscus,  "egregius  pictor,"  266,  282, 
pi.  xliii 

Gaibana,  Giovanni  di,  171 
Geroldus,  clerk  of  Amiens,  194 
Goderannus,  158 
Godescalc,  100 
Guntbald  the  Deacon,  151 

Heribertus,  147 

Hesdin,    Jacquemart    de,     237,     248, 

250-2,  307 

Hippolytus  Lunensis,  289,  302 
Honore,  237 

John,  Cretan  priest,  65 
Keraldus,  147 

Leo,  164 

Liedet,  Loyset,  312 

Limbourg,   Pol  de,  and  his   brothers, 

248,  266,  271-3,  320,  pi.  xl 
Liuthard,  98 

Mac  Durnan,  Maelbrigte,  80 

Mac  Regol,  79 

Maci,  Jaquet,  241 

Maelbrigt  hua  Maeluanaigh,  82 

Mahiet,  241 

Manerius,  of  Canterbury,  139 

Mantegna,     Andrea     and     Francesco, 

298 

Marmion,  Simon,  313 
Martini,  Simone,  258 
Memlinc,  Hans,  311,  319 
Michael  the  Little,  53 
Modena,  Martino  da,  292 
Monza,  Antonio  da,  300 
Mulling,  S.,  8 1 


INDEX 


Niccolb  di    Ser  Sozzo,    257,   288,   pi. 
xxxix 

Pantoleon,  53 
Papeleu,  Jean  de,  239 
Paris,  Matthew,  185-6 
Pedro,  Prior  of  Silos,  210 
Perugino,  304 
Poyet,  Jean,  284 
Predis,  Ambrogio  de,  300 
—  Cristoforo  de,  301 
Pucelle,  Jean,  237,  240-5,  252 

Rabula  the  Calligrapher,  32 
Ricemarch,  Bp.  of  S.  David's,  83 


Russi,  Franco,  291 

Sano  di  Pietro,  288 
Siferwas,  John,  233 

Trevou,  Henri  du,  252 

Tavernier,  Jean  le,  312 

Tedesco,  Giorgio,  291-2 

Theodore,  Arch-priest  of  Caesarea,  49 

Verona,  Liberale  da,  297,  pi.  xlvi 
Vrelant,  Willem,  311 

Whas,  John,  233 


GENERAL 


Ada  Gospels,  school  of,  99-103 

Adonis,  death  of,  45 

Aelfgyfu,  117 

Aelfric's  Hexateuch,  120 

Aelfwin,  Abbot  of  Newminster,  Win- 
chester, 117-8 

Aethelgar,  Abbot  of  Newminster,  127 

Aethelwald,  Bp.  of  Lindisfarne,  Prayer- 
book  of,  85 

Aethelwold,  S.,  124;  Benedictional  of, 
126 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  90,  92-3,  143;  Ottonian 
Gospels  at,  148-50 

Albani  Horae,  304 

Albert  of  Brandenburg,  Hours  of,  321 

Alcuin,  91,  94;  Alcuin-Bibles,  94-7, 
149,  pi.  xi 

Alexander  VI,  300-1 

Alexandria,  2,  14 

Alexius  Comnenus,  portraits  of,  41,  60 

Alfonso  of  Aragon,  King  of  Naples, 
Psalter  of,  302 

Alfred  the  Great,  122 

Alphonso,  son  of  Edw.  I,  190 

Amiens,  194 

Angelico,  Fra,  288 

Ani,  Book  of  the  Dead  of,  i 

Animal-lore,  fabulous,  186-7,  222 

Anne  of  Bohemia,  232 

—  of  Brittany,  Hours  of,  266,  284-5 

—  of  Burgundy,  Duchess  of  Bedford, 

273-5 
Antiphoners,  327.   v.  Choir-books 


Annunciation,  early  instance  of  divided 

form,  33 
Apocalypse,  illustrations  of,  96,  209-19, 

pi.  xi,  xxx 
Arabic  Gospel,  in  portrait  of  S.  Matthew, 

64 

Aratea,  13 
Archippus,   hermit,    legend    of,    53-4, 

pi.  v 
Aristotle,  Ethics,   303 ;  tomb  of,   309, 

pi.  xlix 

Armagh,  Book  of,  81 
Arnstein  Abbey,  Bible,  etc.,  from,  154-5 
Arthur,  Prince  of  Wales,  317 
Arundel  Psalter,  E.  Anglian,  26,  224-7, 

pi.  xxxiii 

Ashburnham  House,  fire  at,  1 7 
—  Pentateuch,  161 
Ashridge  College,  191 
Assumption     of    the    Virgin,    notable 

Italian   paintings   of,   137,    257-8, 

299,  pi.  xxxix 
Asti  Antiphoner,  258 
Athelstan's    Gospels,    144-5  >    Psalter, 

122-3 
Augustine,    S.,     Commentary    on    the 

Psalms,  302  ;  De  Civitate  Dei,  246, 

282,  302,  pi.  xxxvii 

Backgrounds,  architectural,  198;  dia- 
pered, 140;  patterned,  146,  151; 
punctured  gold,  227;  striped,  96, 
146,  152,  211 ;  transitional,  266-8 

347 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 


Bamberg  Gospels,  149-50;  Lectionary, 

150-1 
Bar,  Marguerite  de,  Abbess  of  S.  Maur 

at  Verdun,  237 

—  Renaud  de,  Bp.  of  Metz,  237 
Bari  Exultet  Roll,  166 

Basil  I,  the  Macedonian,  36,  38 ;  por- 
trait of,  40-1 

—  II,  Menology  of,  52-5 
Bavarian  schools,  143,  152-3 
Beatus  on  the  Apocalypse,  209-12 
Beaupre  Antiphoner,  207 

Bedford,  John,  Duke  of,  Hours  of 
("Bedford  Missal"),  273-5,  plxli; 
Breviary  and  Pontifical  of,  275 

Belleville  Breviary,  240-5 

Belton,  wall-paintings  at,  225 

Benedict,  S.,  130,  163  ;  Life  of,  164 

Benedictional  of  Abp.  Robert,  127;  of 
S.  Aethelwold,  126 

Bentivoglio  Bible,  260 

Berengaudus  on  the  Apocalypse,  215 

Bergen,  Margaret  van,  Countess  of 
Buren,  Hours  of,  317 

Bernward,  S.,  Bp.  of  Hildesheim,  143, 
151-2 

Berry,  John,  Duke  of,  240,  247-54, 
266-8,  271-3,  279,  307,  309-10, 
320;  his  "Belles  Heures."  273; 
Bibles,  252;  "Grandes  Heures," 
242,  251;  "Petites  Heures,"  242, 
251;  Psalter,  249,  251;  "  Tres 
Belles  Heures,"  309;  "Tres 
Riches  Heures,"  266,  271-4,  276, 
320,  pi.  xl 

Bestiaries,  34,  186-7 

Bible  Historiale,  238-9,  245,  252,  314 

—  Moralized,  199-200 

Bibles,  nth  and  i2th  centt.,  huge,  138, 
!54,  i57-8;  1 3th  cent,  mostly 
small,  175,  181-4,  196-7;  i4th 
cent,  Italian,  260-1 

Biblia  Pauperum,  307-8 

Billfrith,  73 

Blachernse,  miniaturists  of,  52-3 

Black  Death,  230 

Blackfriars,  London,  190 

Blanche   of  Castile,    244 ;    Psalter  of, 

!93.-4 

Blandigny  Abbey,  near  Ghent,  306 
Blois  Gospels,  104 
Bobbio  MSS.,  83,  86,  162 
Boccace,  280,  282 

348 


Bologna,    illumination    at,     170,    172, 

259-62,  292 
Book  of  the  Dead,  i 
Borders,   various    styles    of,    28,    125, 

128-33,  171-2,   175-6,  189,    231, 

241,   287,  289,   291,    295,    303-5, 

314-6,  319 
Borromeo  Hours,  301 
Borso  Bible,  291 
Bosworth  Psalter,  129 
Boucicaut  Hours,  266,  268 
Bourbon,  Pierre,  Due  de,  279 
Bourgeois,  Jean,  285 
Bourges,  248-250,  273 
Braybrooke  Psalter,     v.  Gorleston 
Breviaries,  326 
Bridget,  S.,  77 
Bruges,  311-4,  3 1 7.  322 

—  Jean  de,  250 

Bruynyng,  Robert,  Abbot  of  Sherborne, 

233 

Burgundy,  Dukes  of.  Philippe  le  Hardi, 
267.  John  the  Fearless,  267; 
Breviary  of,  270-1,  276,  326, 
frontispiece.  Philip  the  Good, 
311-3;  Breviary  of,  312.  Charles 
the  Bold,  311,  313 

Bury  S.  Edmund's,  MSS.  from,  i  n,  131, 

135-7 

Byzantine  illumination,  14-5,  36-65 
Byzantium,   14,  19,  36.     v.  Constanti- 
nople 

Caedmon,  118-9 
Calendar  of  Filocalus,  3-5 

—  illustrations,    4,    39,    113-5,     J77, 

204-5,  242-5,  271-2,  276,  319-23 

Cambrai,  249,  306-7 

Canterbury,  109,  139,  184;  MSS.  from 
Christ  Church,  no,  120,  129-30, 
144;  from  S.  Augustine's,  85-6 
(Psalter),  115,  120,  1 60  (Gospels), 
182-3  (Bible),  215 

Canute,  117,  130 

Capua,  MSS.  written  at,  65,  163 

Cardena,  S.  Pedro  de,  MS.  from,  210 

Carew-Poyntz  Horae,  231 

Carolingian  illumination,  88-105 

Carrow  Psalter,  181 

Cascia,  Simone  da,  262 

Cassiodorus,  Commentary  on  the  Psalms, 

8S 
Celtic  illumination,  66-87 


INDEX 


Chad,  S.,  Gospels  of,  75-6 
Charlemagne,  88-94,  100-2 
Charles  the  Bald,  96-8,  105 

—  the  Fat,  98 

—  the  Simple,  123 

—  V,  Emperor,  298;  portrait  of,  321; 

Victories  of,  305 

—  IV,  King  of  France,  240 

—  V,  King  of  France,  240,  249,  252-3  ; 

Coronation-book  of,  247 

—  VI,  King  of  France,  253 

—  VII,  King  of  France,  278,  280 
Chester,  179^ 

Chevalier,  Etienne,  Hours  of,  280-2 

Chicksand  nunnery,  224 

Choir-books,  258-9,  286-8,  297-8,  304, 

327-8 

Chroniques  de  Jherusalem,  312 
Cingal,  75 

Clement  VII,  Antipope,  248 
dementia,  Domicella,  207 
Clermont  in  Auvergne,  196 
Codex  Egberti,  147-50,  pi.  xviii 

—  Gertrudianus,  147,  pi.  xix 

—  Romanus    (Virgil,    Cod.    Vat.    lat. 

3867),  2.  5i  I0-12 

—  Rossanensis,  19,  22-31,  33,  37,  39- 

40,  51,  61-2,  pi.  iii 

—  Sinopensis,  19,  28-30,  149 
Codices  Aurei,  100-3 
Coetivy  Hours,  276-7 
Commines,  Philippe  de,  278,  282 
Communion,  representations  of,  25-6, 

33,  51,  pi.  iii 

Conquetes  de  Charlemagne,  312 
Constantinople,  2,   20,  23,  35,  44,  49, 

52,  6 1.    v.  Byzantium 
Constantius  II,  4 

—  Gallus  Caesar,  4 
"Continuous"  method,  21,  25,  41,  141, 

.318 
Copies  and  repetitions,  3-5,  17,  45-9, 

56,    no,    114-5.    i5°»    I9%>    270, 

273.  276,  313,  317,  320-3;  danger 

of  relying  on,  4 
Corbie,  school  of,  92,  98-9 
Coronation,  Byzantine,  46,  48,  51 

—  book  of  Charles  V,  247 
Corvinus,  John,  298 

—  Mathias,  King  of  Hungary,  296-9  ; 

Missal  of,  297 
Cosmas  and  Damian,  SS.,  297-8 

—  Indicopleustes,  39-40 


Cotton,  Sir  Robert,  17,  106 

Credi,  Lorenzo  di,  295 

Croyland  abbey,  140 

Crucifixion,  earliest  appearance  of,  in 
illumination,  32  ;  various  represen- 
tations of,  41,  51,  116-7,  I32>  180, 
305,  322;  grotesque,  82,  84-5; 
symbolical,  152-3,  194,  225-6, 
283  (nine  Crucifixes,  two  dead 
Christs) ;  Christ  ascending  the 
cross,  256 ;  legend  of  nails  for, 
281-2  ;  pi.  xxii,  xxiii,  xliii 

Cunigunde,  S.,  150 

Cuthbert,  S.,  73 ;  Life  of,  140,  195 

Daniel,  commentary  on,  210 

Danish  raids,  effect  of,  on  English  art, 

122,  124 

Dante,  Divina  Commedia,  262 
Davalos,  Don  Inigo,  302 
David  as   Byzantine   Emperor,  46 ;  as 

Orpheus,    39,   44-7 ;    as    prophet- 
witness,  24,  30,  51 
Deathbed  scene,  316 
Decretals  of  Boniface   VIII,    262 ;   of 

Gregory  IX,  230 
Decretum,  263 

Dedication  of  a  church,  238,  pi.  xxxv 
Deer,  Book  of,  83 
Denis,  S.,  Life  of,  195,  239-40 
Desert  of  Religion,  235 
Desiderius,  Abbot   of  Monte  Cassino, 

164,  167 

Dimma,  Book  of,  72 
Dinteville,  Frangois  de,  Bp.  of  Auxerre, 

285 

Dioscorides,  34-5,  186 
Diptychs,  consular,  imitated,  35,  46 
Dixmude  Missal,  322 
Donatus,  300 

"  Donor  "  picture,  early  instance  of,  98 
Douai  Psalter,     v.  Gorleston 
Dourdan,  view  of,  272 
Drogo,  Sacramentary  of,  103,  153 
Ducali,  Venetian,  293-4 
Duccio,  171,  255 
Dunois  Hours,  276-7 
Dunstan,  S.,  124,  129 
Durandus,  261 

Durham,  85,  135,  138,  140,  175 
—   Book  (Lindisfarne  Gospels),  62-3, 

66,  70,  73-6,  79,  84,  86,  pi.  viii 
Durrow,  Book  of,  71-2,  80,  84,  89 

349 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 


Eadwin  Psalter,  no 

Early  Christian  illumination,  14-35 

East  Anglian  school,  217-8,  223-30 

—  Winch,  225 

Ebbo  Gospels,  104,  108-9 
Echternach  Gospels,  149 
Edgar,  King,  124;  charter  of,  124-5 
Edmund,  Earl  of  Cornwall,  191 

—  S.,  Passion  of  (Holford  MS.),  135-7, 

179  ;  Lydgate's  Life  of,  235 
Edward  IV,  patron  of  Flemish  art,  235, 

313-4 
-  VII,  279 

Egbert,   Abp.   of  Treves,   143,   147-8, 

15° 
Egmond,  Floris  van,  Count  of  Buren, 

Hours  of,  317 

Egypt,  skins  used  for  writing  in,  i 
Egyptian  influence  on  Celtic  art,  78 

—  papyri,  illumination  of,  i 

"  Elysabeth  the  Quene,"  Hours  of,  235 

Eneidt,  156 

English  illumination,  7th  and  8th  cent., 

72-5,  84-7;  9th-i2th  cent.,  106- 

21     (outline  -  drawings),     122-42  ; 

1 3th    cent.,    174-91  ;    after    1300, 

220-35 

Eormenilda,  S.,  179 
Estampes,  Robinet  d',  309 
Este,  House  of,  291-3 ;  Alfonso  I,  293  ; 

Beatrice,  300 ;  Borso,  291  ;  Ercole  I, 

291-2;  Ippolito  I,  Cardinal,  293; 

Leonello,  291 
Ethilwald,   Lindisfarne   Gospels  bound 

by,  73 

Etschmiadzin  Gospel-book,  34,  91 
Euclid,  248 
Eudocia,  Empress,  portrait  of,  with  her 

sons,  40-1 

Eugenius  IV,  portrait  of,  278 
Eumenes  II,  King  of  Pergamum,  i 
Eusebian  Canons,  decoration  of,  23,  28, 

30-3,  60,  74,  87,  90-105  passim, 

128,  130,  pi.  ix 
Evangelists,  emblems  of,  first  appearance 

of,  62-3;   in   Celtic  MSS.,   71-84 

passim,  pi.  vii ;  Merovingian,  89 

—  portraits    of,    early    Christian,    28 ; 

Byzantine,  61-4  ;  Celtic,  70-84 
passim;  Carolingian,  90-4,  98, 
100-3 

Exeter  Cathedral,  1 1 6 

Exultet  Rolls,  164-7 

350 


Falconry,  illustrations  of,  172 
Ferdinand  of  Aragon,  King  of  Naples, 

289,  302 
Ferrara,  Aeneid  formerly  at,  13;  school 

of,  291-3 

Filocalus,  Calendar  of,  3-5 
Fitton,  Alice,  225 
Flanders,  Count  of,  249 
Flann,  King,  71 
Flemish    illumination,    A.D.    900-1200, 

156-9;   1 3th  cent.,    203-7;  after 

A.D.  1300,  306-23 
Fleury,  124 

Floreflfe  Bible,  144,  159 
Florence,  259,  273,  293,  304;  school  of, 

288,  294-7;  S.  Marco,  169,  288; 

Breviary  of  S.  Croce,  295-6 
Fortescue,  Sir  John,  1 7 
Fountain  of  Life,  34,  91,  94,  100,  103, 

pi.  x 

Francis,  S.,  199,  204 
Franco-Saxon  school,  92,  105 
Francois  II,  Gospels  of,  105 
Frederick   II,    De    arte    venandi    cum 

avibus,  172 

—  HI,  316 

French     illumination,     A.D.  900-1200, 

i43»  *S6~7;  J3tn  cent->  174,  192- 
203;    i4th    cent.,    236-54;    after 
A.D.  1400,  265-85 
Froissart,  249 
[  Frontispieces,  13,  28,  31,  125,  151,  163, 

257-8,  294.     v.  Title-pages 
Fugger,  Ulrich,  43 

Gaddi,  Taddeo,  273 

Gaston  Phebus,  Comte  de  Foix,  Livre 

de  la  Chasse,  267 
Gau court,  Charles  de,  282 
Gavignano,  Sandra  di   Giovanni  Cian- 

chini  da,  Abbess  of  Rosano,  290 
Gellone  Sacramentary,  89 
Genesis,  Cotton,   17-19;  Vienna,   19- 

22,  161 

Geoffrey,  Abbot  of  S.  Alban's,  136 
George  IV,  275 

—  S.,  Order  of,  316 

German  illumination,  A.D.  900-1200, 
143-56;  after  A.D.  1200,  207-8, 
307-8 

Gero  Gospels,  145-6 

Gertrude,  owner  of  Cod.  Gertrud. , 
147 


INDEX 


Ghent,  249,  322  ;  Missal  of  S.  Bavon's, 
203 ;  Vita  Christi,  etc.,  written  at, 

3U 

Giotto,  26,  255,  261 
Giraldus  Cambrensis,  77 
Girard     de     Roussillon,    romance    of, 

312 

Godescalc,  school  of,  99-103 
Gold,  MSS.  written  in,  19,  23,  29,  1*5. 

v.  Codices  Aurei 
Golf  Book,  322-3,  pi.  li 
Gonzaga,  Card.  Francesco,  65 
Gorleston,  225-9,  307  ;  Psalters  (Bray- 

brooke  and  Douai)  from,  226-8 
Gothic  style  in  illumination,  135,  174, 

236 

Graduals,  327.     v.  Choir-books 
Grandes  Chroniques,  280,  313 
Grandison  Hours,  234 
Greek  artists  imported  to  Monte  Cassino, 

164 

Greenfield  nunnery,  217 
Gregory  V,  148 

—  XI,  247 

—  Nazianzen,  S.,  Sermons,  40-2 
Grimani  Breviary,  271,  319-21,  326 

—  Card.  Domenico,  319-20 
Marino,  304 

Grimbald  Gospels,  131-2,  pi.  xv 
Grisaille,  245-6,  249,  277,  313 
Grizane,  304 
Guiart  des  Moulins,  238 
Guthlac  Roll,  121,  140,  pi.  xvii 
Guyenne,  Louis,  Duke  of,  268 
Gyrard,  Laurens,  280 


Hague,  The,  313 
Hainault,  249 

—  and  Holland,  William  IV  of  Bavaria, 

Count  of,  310 

Harrowing  of  Hell,  various  representa- 
tions of,  59-60,  119,  139,  167,  pi. 
vi,  xvi,  xx 

Hautvillers,  104,  109 

Head-pieces,  Byzantine,  55-6,  pi.  v 

Heidelberg  Sacramentary,  145-6,  153 

Helena,  S.,  portrait  of,  41 

Hennessy  Hours,  271,  318,  322 

Henry  II,  Emperor,  143,  150 

—  II,  King  of  England,  138 
~  V,  235 

—  VI,  235,  273-4;  Psalter  of,  277 


Henry  VII,  317 
-VIII,  17 

—  of  Blois,  Bp.  of  Winchester,  137 
Herbals,  34,  186-7 

Herrad  von  Landsperg,  155 
Hesdin,  312 

Hildesheim,  school  of,  143,  151-2 
Histoire  de  Charles  Martel,  312-3 

—  du  bon  roi  Alexandre,  312 

—  du  Haynaut,  311 
Holkham  MSS.,  207 
Homer,  3.    v,  Iliad 
Hortulus  Animae,  321 
Hortus  Deliciarum,  144,  155-6 
Hours,  Books  of,  328-9;    early,    188; 

French,  i5th  cent.,  265 
Howard,  Sir  William,  225 
Hugh,  S.,  Prior  of  Witham,  138 
Hunting,  illustrations  of,  227,  267 
Huntingfield  Psalter,  141 


Iconoclastic  Controversy,  20,  36;  de- 
picted, 51-2 
Iliad,  Ambrosian,  2-3,  8-12;  Marcian, 

!3 

Incarnation,  symbolical  representation 
of,  152 

Ingeburge  Psalter,  193 

Initials,  decorative  :  Byzantine,  64-5  ; 
Celtic  and  Hiberno-Saxon,  69-87 
passim,  pi.  viii ;  Lombardic,  Mero- 
vingian, and  Visigothic,  65,  88, 
209-12;  Carolingian,  91-109  pas- 
sim; English,  127-42  passim,  183 
(pen-work),  189,  220-1  (pen-work), 

232-3;  German,  144-55*  P1-  xix; 
French,  57,  195,  240-1  (pen- 
tracery);  Flemish,  157-9,  203; 
Italian,  162-9,  259  (Pen  lace-work), 
287  (do.) 

—  historiated  :  early  examples  of,  102, 
104,  no,  130,  133,  153-5;  de- 
cline of,  in  France,  241 ;  develop- 
ment of,  in  Italy,  258-9,  286-8, 
297-8;  pi.  xvi,  xxvi,  xxxii,  xxxiv, 
xxxv,  xxxvii,  xxxix,  xliv-vi 

Instructions  to  artist,  written  across 
field  of  pictures,  1 7 

Isabella  Book,  318-20,  326 

Isabelle  of  France,  Psalter  of,  198-9 

Isidore,  186 

Itala,  Quedlinburg,  16-7,  148 

3SI 


ILLUMINATED    MANUSCRIPTS 


Italian  illumination  before  A.D.  1300, 
160-73;  i4th  cent.,  255-64;  after 
A.D.  1400,  286-305 

Italo-Byzantine  paintings  in  a  Win- 
chester MS.,  137 

Jacobus,  Homilies  of,  56 

Jacqueline  of  Luxembourg,  Duchess  of 

Bedford,  275 

James,  Thomas,  Bp.  of  Dol,  296 
Jeanne  d'Evreux,  240 ;  Breviary  of,  246 

—  II,    Queen  of  Navarre,    Hours  of, 

242-5,  pi.  xxxvi 

Jerome,  S.,  Commentary  on  Daniel,  210; 
sumptuous  MSS.  decried  by,  19 

Jerusalem,  entry  into,  traditional  icono- 
graphy of,  26-7 

Joan  of  Castile,  Hours  of,  319 

John,  Abbot  of  Capua,  163 

—  Comnenus,  portrait  of,  60 

—  II,  King  of  France,  239,  247 

—  S.,  dictating  his  Gospel,  54,  63 
Jordan,  personified,  22,  59,  126 
Josephus,  279-80,  314 

Joshua  Roll,  42-4 

Jouvenel  des  Ursins,  Jacques,  Pontifical 
of,  275 

Joyful  and  dolorous  mysteries  con- 
trasted, 201,  245 

Juliana  Anicia,  portrait  of,  35 

Jumieges,  Robert  of,  Missal  of,  128 

Justinus,  288 

Kells,  Book  of,  66,  68-9,  74,  76-80, 

84,  pi.  vii 
Kildare,  77 

Landscape-painting,  naturalistic,  in  the 
Vatican  Virgil,  6-8,  pi.  ii ;  peculiar 
Italo-Byzantine  tradition  of,  53-4, 
251,  288;  gradual  development  of 
French,  251-3,  267,  271-2,  276-85 
passim,  pi.  xxxvii,  xl;  Italian, 
292,  297;  Flemish,  308-23 passim, 
pi.  xlix,  li;  English,  225,  2.27, 
232-3 

Laon,  307 

Laurent,  Frere,  202 

Law-books,  illumination  of,  230,  262-3 

Lazarus,  raising  of,  26-7,  59 

Leo  the  Patrician,  47 

Leofric  Missal,  116-7 

Lidge,  309 

352 


Lindeseye,  Robert  de,  Abbot  of  Peter- 
borough, 1 80 

Lindisfarne  Gospels,    v.  Durham  Book 
Line-endings,  178-9,  221 
Livre  de  la  Chasse,  267 

—  des  Merveilles,  267 

—  des  proprietez  des  choses,  314 
Livres  de  lestat  de  lame,  203 
Lombardic  illumination,  88-9 ;  initials, 

65 

London,  Tower  of,  depicted,  317-8 
Longchamp  Abbey,  198 
Lorenzetti,  the,  257 
Lorraine,  Rene  II,  Duke  of,  282 
Lothaire,  Emperor,  Gospels  of,  95,  97  ; 

Psalter  of,  104 
Louis  VIII,  194 

—  IX,  S.,  192,  199;  Psalters  of,  193-4, 

198-9 ;  scenes  in  the  life  of,  244 

—  XI,  278-80 
Louterell  Psalter,  229-30 

Lovel,  John,  Lord,  Lectionary  of,  234 
Lumiere  as  Lais,  217 
Lusignan,  view  of,  271 
Lydgate,  Life  of  S.  Edmund,  235 
Lyle,  Robert  de,  224-5 
Lytlington,  Nicholas,  Abbot   of  West- 
minster, 231 

Mabuse,  311 

Mac  Durnan,  Maelbrigte,  Gospels  of, 
80-1 

Mac  Regol,  Gospels  of,  79 

Madan,  F.,  133 

Maelbrigt  hua  Maeluanaigh,  Gospels  of, 
82 

Maestricht  Psalters  and  Hours,  205-6 

Maizieres,  Philippe  de,  253 

Malcolm  Canmore,  134 

Mandeville,  Travels  of,  267,  309,  pi. 
xlix 

Mandrake,  legend  of,  35,  186 

Mantua,  Fr.  Jacobus  de,  298 

Marco  Polo,  267 

Margaret  of  Bavaria,  Duchess  of  Bur- 
gundy, 270-1 

—  of  Burgundy,   Countess   of  Riche- 

mont,  275 

—  of   Scotland,    S.,   Gospel-book    of, 

133-4 

—  of  York,  Duchess  of  Burgundy,  313, 

316 
Martial,  2 


INDEX 


Martreuil,  Itier  de,  Bp.  of  Poitiers,  248 
Mary  of  Burgundy,  death  of,  316,  320 

—  I,  Queen  of  England,  Psalter  of,  121, 

217,  221-3,  230,  pl-  xxxi-ii 
Matilda,  widow  of  Henry  the  Fowler, 

144 

Matteo  di  Giovanni,  257 
Matthew,  S.,  portrait  of,  with   Arabic 

exemplar,  64 

Mauro,  Cristoforo,  Ducale  of,  294 
Maximilian  I,   298,   316;   Prayer-book 

of,  321 
Medici,  House  of,  293-4  ;  Lorenzo  de', 

294,  296  (Hours  of) 
Melissenda,  Queen  of  Jerusalem,  Psalter 

of,  57-61,  pi.  vi 
Melusine,  271 

Memlinc,  Hans,  311,  315,  318-9 
Menology  of  Basil  II,  52-5 
Merovingian  illumination,  88-9 
Metaphrastes,    Simeon,    52,    54-7,    63, 

260,  pi.  v 

Metsys,  Quentin,  311 
Metz  Pontifical,  237-8,  241,  pi.  xxxv 

—  school  of,  92,  99-104 
Michael,  Abbot  of  the  Studium,  49 

—  S.,    fighting   with   devil,    272,    316; 

rescuing  hermit,  53-4,  pi.  v ;  Order 

of,  278 

Michelangelo,  304 
Mielot,  Miracles  de  N.  D.,  313 
Milan,  school  of,  293,  298-301 
Missals,  324-6 

Mitford,  Richard,  Bp.  of  Salisbury,  233 
Modena,  choir-books  at,  258,  292 
Mont  S.  Michel,  272,  276 
Monte  Cassino,  school  of,  163-7 
Montferrat,    Blanche   de,    Duchess  of 

Savoy,  271 
Mozarabic  MSS.,  210 
Mulbarton,  229 
Mulling,  Book  of,  81 
Mundford,  224 

Nantes,  197 

Naples,  5,  160;  mosaics  at,  62;  school 
of  (?),  301-3 

Nativity,  typical  Byzantine  representa- 
tion of,  53 

Natural  history,  illustrations  of,  263-4, 
315-6.  v.  Bestiaries,  Falconry, 
Herbals,  Woodland 

Newminster.     v.  Winchester. 


Nicephorus  Botaniates,  portraits  of,  4 1-2 

—  Patriarch,  5 1 

Nimbus,   in   Classical    MSS.,    10,    12  ; 

cruciferous,    27 ;    rectangular,    for 

living  persons,  162 
Noah's  wife,  legend  of,  222 
Norfolk,  224-5,  229-30 
Norman  Conquest,  121 
Norwich,    227-8,    307 ;     Breviary    of, 

227* 
Nuremberg  Hours,  200-1,  245 

Oath-book,  144 
Octateuch  MSS,  48-9 
Offas,  Lives  of  the  Two,  185-6 
Olaf,  S.,  scenes  from  the  legend  of,  181 
Old  and  New  Dispensations,  symboli- 
cally contrasted,  181,  194,  242-4, 
276 

Organ,  early  painting  of,  189 
Orleans,  Charles,  Duke  of,  317-8 

—  Duchess  of,  278 
Ormesby  Psalter,  228-9 
Otto  I,  the  Great,  123,  143-4 

—  II,  143,  150 

—  Ill,  148-51 ;  apotheosis  of,  149 
Ottoman  illumination,  143  seq. 
Outline-drawings,   i,    12,  106-21,  140, 

184-6,  212-7,  221-2,  etc. 
Ovid,  289 
Oxford,  176 

Pachomius,  S.,  120-1,  130 

Padua,  26,  170-1,  262;  Gospel  and 
Epistle-books  of,  169-71 

Papyri,  illuminated,  i 

Parco,  Abbey  of  S.  Mary  de,  MSS. 
from,  158-9 

Paris,  illumination  at,  192-5,  198-9, 
237.  239-42,  273-6;  liturgical 
use  of,  248,  269 ;  scenes  of 
everyday  life  in,  240;  views  of, 
275  ;  Hotel  de  Ville,  fire  at,  275  ; 
Sainte  Chapelle  MSS.,  193-4,  199, 
237 ;  S.  Magloire's  Missal,  273 ; 
University,  175,  192 

—  Matthew,  185-6 
Parma,  170 

—  Roger  of,  Treatise  on  Surgery,  195 
Paul  the  Deacon,  Commentary  on  the 

Rule  of  S.  Benedict,  163 
Pavia,  292 
Peiresc,  illuminations  copied  for,  3,  17 

353 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 


Pen-work  initial  and  border  ornament, 

183,  220,  259,  287 
Perugia,  304 
Peterborough  Psalter,  at  Brussels,  224 ; 

London,  180-1,  pi.  xxii 
Petrarch,  258,  295 
Petrucci,  Antonello,  289 
Petrus  Comestor,  Historia  Scholastica, 

190-1,  238 
Philip  Augustus,  192-3,  199 

—  Ill,  202 

—  the  Fair,  Archduke  of  Austria,  316, 

3i9 

Philippa,  Queen,  Psalter  of,  231 

Philippe  le  Bel,  Breviary  of,  237 

Philippi,  17 

Physiologus,  186 

Pius  IV,  305 

Plessis-les-Tours,  284 

Pliny,  34,  186 

Poitiers  Bible,  239 

Pontano,  Gioviano,  5 

Prato  MS.,  256 

Presles,  Raoul  de,  252 

Priming,  in  Byzantine  MSS.,  47,  49 

Priscian,  248 

Prochorus,  S.,  writing  down  S.  John's 

Gospel,  54,  63 
Prophets  and  apostles,  in   pairs,   243, 

249, 276 

—  figures  of,  in  Gospel  scenes,  24,  29, 

51 

Prudentius,  Psychomachia,  111-3 

Psalters,  327;  illustration  of,  44-52, 
109,  etc.;  popularity  of,  i2th- 
i4th  cent.,  140,  176,  193,  etc. 

Ptolemy,  39,  248 

Pudsey  Bible,  138 

Purple  vellum,  MSS.  on,  19-29,  102 

Quedlinburg  Itala,  16-7,  148 

Rabanus,  De  Laudibus  S.  Crucis,  155 

Rabula  Gospels,  31-4,  41 

Raphael,  6,  304 

Ratisbon,  school  of,  143,  152-3 

Ravenna,  56,  90;  mosaics,  7, 15,  22,  37, 

126,  148 
Raymondin,  272 
Registrum  Gregorii,  150 
Reichenau,  school  of,  143-51  passim 
Rene  of  Anjou   283 

354 


Rheims,    197 ;    school  of,    92,    104-5, 

108-9,  M3.  MS 
Ricemarch,  Psalter  of,  83 
Richard  II,  Bible  and  Missal  of,  232-4, 

pi.  xxxiv  ;  Epistle  to,  253-4 
Rigan,  186 
Riom,  view  of,  272 
Robert    of    Anjou,    King    of   Naples, 

256 
—  of  Normandy,  Abp.  of  Rouen,  Missal 

of(?),  127 

Robertet,  Fran9ois,  278 
Rogers  Album,  305 
Roias,  Francisco  de,  318 
Roman  de  la  Rose,  318 
Romano,  Giulio,  304 
Rome,  2,  14,  85,  90-1,  137,  160,  278, 

304 ;    MS.  written  at,  65  ;  school 

of  (?),    301 ;   mosaics   of  S.  Maria 

Maggiore,  43  •  Bible  of  S.  Paul's, 

98-9 ;  twisted  columns  of  S.  Peter's, 

101,  103,  280 
Romuleon,  314 
Rosano,  Abbess  of,  290 
Rushworth    Gospels,    v.    Mac    Regol, 

Gospels  of 
Rutland  Psalter,  188-90 


Sacramentaries,  325.   v.  Drogo,  Gellone, 

Heidelberg,  Warmund 
S.  Alban's,  MSS.  executed  at,  136-7, 

140,  184-6,  214 

—  Denis,    abbey    of,    n,    239,    249; 

Franco-Saxon  school  of,  92,  105  ; 
Missal  of,  246-7  ;  Vie  de  S.  Denis, 
executed  at,  195 

—  Gall,  Celtic  MSS.  at,  83-4 

—  Omer,    Hours   of,   306 ;    Psalter   of 

S.  Berlin's  abbey,  no,  156 

—  Omer  family,  Psalter  of,  229 

—  Pol,   Louis  de  Luxembourg,   Count 

of,  Hours  of,  283 

—  Vaast,  Gospel-lectionary  of,  105 

—  Victor-in-Santem,  Gospels  of,  92 
Sainte  Abbaye,  202-3,  236 
Salisbury  Cathedral,  234 
Saluces  Hours,  283 

Savoy,  Charles,  Duke  of,  271 

Scala  Paradisi,  56-7 

Script,  Greek  :  capitals,  42  ;  uncials,  8, 

17,     19;    Slavonic     uncials,     65; 

minuscules,  42,  44 


INDEX 


Script,  Latin:  rustic  capitals,  6,  10,  107, 
109 ;  uncials,  16 ;  cursive,  1 7  ;  half- 
uncials,  74 ;  Irish,  67  ;  minuscules, 
Merovingian  and  Caroline,  91 ; 
Lombardic,  165;  Visigothic,  210; 
1 3th  cent.  Bible-hand,  175,  182, 
196 ;  "  scrittura  umanistica,"  289 

Scotus,  Joannes,  289 

Sforza,  Bianca  Maria,  298 ;  Bona,  298, 
300 ;  Galeazzo  Maria,  301 ;  Ludo- 
vico,  300 ;  Maximilian,  300 

—  Book  of  Hours,   298-300,   321-2, 

pi.  xlvii-viii 

—  Visconti,  Francesco,  300 
Sforziada,  300 
Shaftesbury,  137 

Sheen,  MS.  written  at,  317 

Sherborne  Missal,  233-4 

Siciliano,  Antonio,  320 

Sicily,  303 

Siena,  school  of,  257-8,  286-8,  290,  297, 

pi.  xxxix,  xliv,  xlvi 
Silos  abbey,  MSS.  from,  210-2 
Silver,  MSS.  written  in,  19,  20,  23 
Sketchbook,  artist's,  250 
Sketches,  preliminary,  in  margins,  239 
Smeralda,  Hours  of,  295 
Smithfield,  S.  Bartholomew's,  230 
Sneyd  MS.,  206,  306 
Sobieski  Hours,  275-6 
Soissons,  307 ;  Gospels  of  S.  Medard's, 

103,  pi.  x 

Somme  le  Roi,  201-3,  P^  xxviii 
Songe  du  Vergier,  253 
Spanish  illumination,  209-12,  302-3 
Speculum  Humanae  Salvationis,  307-8 
Stained  glass  medallions,  140,  180 
Statius,  267-8 

Stavelot  abbey,  MSS.  from,  157-8 
Strassburg,  155 
Stuart,  Card.  Henry,  275 
Surgical    and    medical    MSS.,    195-6, 

pi.  xxvii 

Susa,  mosaic-portrait  of  Virgil  at,  1 1 
Syrian  illumination,  31-4;  influence  of, 

on  Carolingian  art,  91,  100 


Tail-pieces,  211-2 

Taymouth  Horae,  231 

Teano,  163 

Teilo,  S.,  75 

Tenison  Psalter,  190-1,  pi.  xxiv 


Terence,  MSS.  of,  12-3,  no;  "Terence 

des  Dues,"   267-8 

Theobald,  Abbot  of  Monte  Cassino,  164 
Theodore,  Abbot  of  the  Studium,  51 

—  Psalter,  49-52,  54,  65,  260 
Theophano,  wife  of  Otto  II,  143,  149, 

151 

Thomas  of  Canterbury,  S.,  176,  180; 
miniatures  of  the  murder  of,  141, 
1 8 1,  184;  of  a  miracle  of  the 
Virgin  to,  184 

—  of  Woodstock,  Duke  of  Gloucester, 

Bible  of,  231 
Three  living  and  three  dead,  205,  225  ; 

variant  of,  320 

Title-pages,  31,  161,  302.  v.  Frontis- 
pieces 

Toledo  Missal,  303 
Tombelaine,  272 
Tours,  278-9;  school  of,  Carolingian, 

92>  94-9i  J43;  late  French,  277- 

85 
Trefoil-arched  canopy,  early  use  of,  181, 

197,  pi.  xxv 
Treves,  143,  149;  Gospel-lectionary  of 

S.  Maximin's,  153;  "Kopialbuch" 

of  Abp.  Baldwin,  307 
Troyes,  139 
Turin  Hours,  309-10 

Ussher,  Abp.,  77 
Uta-codex,  152-3 

Utrecht  Psalter,  92,  104,  106-11; 
copies  of,  no,  1 15 

Val-Dieu  monastery,  219 
Val-Duchesse  Breviary,  306 
Valenciennes,  249 
Valentine,  Calendar  of  Filocalus  made 

for,  4 
Valerius  Flaccus,  288 

—  Maximus,  282,  314 
Vallombrosa  Gradual,  259,  286 

Van  Eyck,  Jan,  his  "Vierge  au  dona- 

teur"  copied,  276 
|  Vatican  Virgil   (Cod.  Vat.   lat.    3225), 

5-10,  12,  16-9,  21,  148,  pi.  ii 
Veldegke,  Heinrich  von,  156 
Vellum,  earliest  use  of,  i 
Venice,  school  of,  293-4 
Verdun  Breviary,  237 

—  Richard  de,  237 

Verona,  162,  288;  early  Psalter  at,  161 

355 


ILLUMINATED   MANUSCRIPTS 


Viana,  Domicella  de,  207 

—  Prince  Charles  of,  303 
Vinci,  Leonardo  da,  300 

Virgil,  MSS.  of,  2,  13,  258.     v.  Codex 
Romanus,  Vatican  Virgil 

—  portraits  of,  2,  n 

Visigothic  illumination,  88-9,  209-12 
Vivian  Bible,  96-7,  99 

Waermund,  186 

Warmund,  S.,  Sacramentary  of,  162-3 

Weingarten  Missals,  207 

Werburga,  S.,  179 

Westminster,  135  ;  Missal,  231 ;  Psalter, 

141-2,176-7 

Wickhampton,  wall-paintings  at,  225 
Winchester,  school  of,  106-39  pcissim, 

151,  176,  231  ;  Bible,  137-9.  J58> 


pi.  xvi;  Psalters,  116,  127,  137-8; 
Newminster  Foundation  -  charter, 
124-5;  Gospels,  128-9;  Liber 
Vitae,  117-8,  pi.  xiii;  Office-book, 
117 ;  Psalter,  132-3 

Windmill  Psalter,  220-1 

Witham  Priory,  138 

Woodland  scenes,  225,  227,  267 

Worms  Bible,  144,  154-5,  158 

Worksop  Bestiary,  187 

Wycliffite  Bible,  231 

Yolande  de  Flandre,  Hours  of,  242-5 
Ypres,  249;  "Kuerbouc"  of,  307 
Yves,  monk  of  S.  Denis,  239 

Zagba,  MS.  written  at,  32 


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